


The mystery of the otter

by Jongdaesdimple



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Amortentia, Animagus, Animal Transformation, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I made Kyungsoo friends with SC and Jongin friends with CBX for some reason, Light Angst, M/M, Potions Accident, Strangers to Lovers, Teen Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28708623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jongdaesdimple/pseuds/Jongdaesdimple
Summary: Kyungsoo likes Jongin, who doesn't really know him. Kyungsoo's an otter and Jongin is oblivious to the existence of animagi. Chaos ensues.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	1. Kyungsoo

**Author's Note:**

> There are two versions of the story, Kyungsoo's version, and Jongin's version, both are stand-alone but you can read them both if you want. There are quite a few scenes that don't overlap but you still don't need to read both. I couldn't figure out who's perspective to write it from so I just did both. I was tempted to only post one of them but I wrote both so might as well post them both. You can read them in either order, it's not relevant honestly. 
> 
> Just my little thing to celebrate Kyungsoo's birthday, Jongin's birthday, and Kaisoo day.

{Kyungsoo's version}

Kyungsoo knows what he’s doing isn’t right, his friends made that plenty clear. What Chanyeol and Sehun don’t understand though is just how desperate Kyungsoo is. He’s been watching and admiring Jongin for far far too long, he needs to know him better. What’s the point of being an animagus if he can’t use it to his advantage? 

It’s a simple plan. All he has to do is sneak into the Hufflepuff dormitory as an otter because he knows their painting will let in anything that looks like a pet. Then he’s free to look around Jongin’s room, for science. He’ll see what kind of snacks Jongin likes, if he has a pet, just little things. Kyungsoo really wants to know more about Jongin, even if they’re small details. 

It takes Kyungsoo a few tries to find the right room but he manages it. As an otter he has a much better sense of smell and Jongin always smells like his cologne, fresh and woody, it’s very easy for Kyungsoo’s otter form to notice when he’s walked into the right room. Once he’s in, Kyungsoo walks up to Jongin’s bed and tries to look at him but Kyungsoo is too short to see anything but a bit of his fluffy black hair. Kyungsoo huffs in annoyance before turning to the bedside table. There’s a drawer, surely Jongin keeps some nice harmless knick knacks in there. Maybe he has a cute key chain or something, Kyungsoo works on opening it up. Kyungsoo has to pull on it many times before it opens but he manages. That is until a hand quickly reaches into the drawer, scaring Kyungsoo who falls on his tiny otter butt. Before Kyungsoo can react, he’s completely paralyzed by a spell. All he can do is move his eyes and try to see what’s going on, but he’s facing the wrong way to see anything useful. 

“Sorry!” Jongin immediately says to Kyungsoo “You’ll be ok, it doesn’t last long- I’m talking to a fuzzy thing. Merlin's beard, I’m tired.”

Kyungsoo tries to squeak but he can’t open his mouth, he does manage to make a tiny sound though. Soon he feels two large and warm hands pick him up from the ground and place him on a bed. Oh- he’s on Jongin’s bed, he’s on Jongin’s  _ lap _ . Kyungsoo would freak out if he could move. Jongin starts petting him and it feels comforting, especially because the spell has made him a little uncomfortable. 

“I’m sorry for doing that but you shouldn’t dig around in people’s stuff” Jongin scolds and Kyungsoo instantly feels terrible. Jongin’s right, he shouldn’t have done it but at the same time, Jongin is talking to him. Jongin has never talked to him before. In all their years at Hogwarts, Jongin has never started a conversation with him and Kyungsoo can’t help but wonder why. Chanyeol assures him that Jongin doesn’t have anything against him but Kyungsoo isn’t so sure. He has a habit of glaring when he forgets his glasses and he’s worried Jongin may have misunderstood it and now hates him because of it. “Why were you doing that... oh! You must be hungry! I know I keep some candy in there but shouldn’t you be looking for fish?”

Kyungsoo forces out another little sound, he can’t talk (of course not, he’s an otter) but at least he can make some sort of sound. 

“I guess if you’re really hungry, anything’s on the menu huh?” Jongin smiles. Kyungsoo can barely see him in the low light of the room but that smile- Kyungsoo’s heart starts racing. Jongin’s smiling at  _ him _ \- well at an otter that happens to be him but still “How did you get into Hogwarts anyway? I didn’t think we had otters nearby. Although if I lived near the black lake, I’d try to crawl into Hogwarts too.”

Kyungsoo tests the spell’s effect, he can finally move a paw. He doesn’t want to move too much, once he regains full control he’ll bolt out of the room but until then, he doesn’t want Jongin knowing he can move. He might try to stop him from leaving and Kyungsoo seriously needs to remove himself from this situation before he does something stupid.

“Listen, it’s night but I can still probably try to find a way to get you some food... might lose some house points for my troubles but anything to help out a little otter as cute as you” Jongin smiles and Kyungsoo can’t help but smile back at him. Jongin called him cute!

Jongin continues to pet Kyungsoo and  _ wow _ that feels nice. Is this how cats and dogs feel? No wonder they like it. 

“Hey, are you a girl or boy?” Jongin asks before reaching around and trying to move Kyungsoo’s legs.

Kyungsoo fights Jongin, he doesn’t want Jongin looking at him. He might be an otter right now but he has modesty! Kyungsoo kicks Jongin’s hands out of the way every time he tries to take a look. 

“Ow” Jongin laughs “Fine, I’ll just say you’re a boy. Not that it matters, you won’t know the difference. I should also give you a name... hmm... well you are quite squishy.”

Jongin pokes Kyungsoo’s tummy with a smile and Kyungsoo cries out. He’s not squishy! He’s a perfectly normal otter, maybe he doesn’t have abs or anything but he doesn’t appreciate someone poking his tummy. Even if that person is his crush- actually, especially if that person is his crush. 

“Sorry!” Jongin says again, at least he’s polite about it “No tummy pokes, but I will call you Squishy. I think it suits you. You’re cute and squishy so it’s perfect.”

Kyungsoo can feel that the spell is fully worn off now so he moves all his limbs and quickly rotates himself back onto his feet before running off Jongin’s bed and out the door. 

~=+•+=~

The next morning at breakfast, Kyungsoo tells his friends all about the previous night. 

“Dude, you’re such an idiot” Sehun sighs while eating his toast, if he’s trying to not contribute to Slytherin stereotypes, he’s failing. Luckily Kyungsoo knows he’s not actually mean, he’s just a bit playful.

“I just wanted to see what his life is like, I didn’t think I’d get caught. At least not by him” Kyungsoo frowns.

“I told you, he’s a cool guy. If you want to know him, just talk to him!” Chanyeol insists before pouring himself some juice “It’s not some huge deal.”

“It is though. I know Gryffindors are brave and all but I’m not like you.” Kyungsoo sighs “I’ve liked him for a year, an entire year. I know things about him that I shouldn’t remember. Details most people would quickly forget.”

“If you get to know him though, then it won’t be weird that you know those things” Sehun says with a look “You’re over complicating everything.”

“I just really like him and I can’t mess it up” Kyungsoo frowns. 

“Why though? I mean I like him, I’d say we’re friends and no offense to him but I don’t get why you think he’s so special.” Chanyeol shrugs “Like you said, you hardly know him so if you mess up, just move on. No big deal.”

“You know how I’m really advanced in potion-making?” Kyungsoo asks.

“No duh, you literally made a potion to turn yourself into an animagus. That’s one of the hardest potions that exists” Sehun laughs. 

“Shh” Chanyeol shushes “Do you want everyone knowing he did that?”

“Anyway, I may have, for fun, a couple weeks ago made amortentia” Kyungsoo continues before he takes a bite of his own breakfast food. 

“Don’t use it on him Soo, you of all people should know that doesn’t create real love” Chanyeol frowns. 

“No, no I know. I told you I only did it for fun.” Kyungsoo says, even though he did keep a vial. Not that he’d use it but  _ maybe-  _ “But when I brewed it, it smelled like fish-”

“Ha! Of course, it did oh my god” Sehun laughs. 

“Shut up” Kyungsoo scowls “it also smelled like my moms’ freshly baked bread and fresh woody cologne.”

“So you find cologne attractive, so do I. I think that’s kind of the point of it” Sehun says leaning back in his chair. 

“It’s Jongin’s cologne” Kyungsoo explains “I don’t know... it’s just, it made me face the fact of just how invested I am in Jongin. I don’t have to know him that well to know how excited he gets when he knows an answer in class. Or how he doodles bears in his notes while the professor is talking. Or how loud his laugh is. I just like him. He matters to me even if I mean nothing to him. It’s scary.”

“Ok I can sort of see where you’re coming from” Chanyeol nods “but I have some good news for you then. We’re switching potions partners today.”

“How is that good news?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Because if Jongin isn’t my potions partner, he could be yours.” Chanyeol smiles “Then you’ll have to talk to him, he’ll get to know you, fall in love and you can live happily ever after.”

“I’m not going to ask him to be my partner” Kyungsoo says, rolling his eyes. 

“Won’t have to, Professor Slughorn is picking the groups himself” Chanyeol says before stuffing his face with food. 

~=+•+=~

Turns out Chanyeol was right about them switching lab partners. Professor Slughorn informs them that he’s picking new potions partners for the class. Once he tells them they can consult the sheet everyone races to check it. Kyungsoo on the other hand stays at his desk. His partner will come to him, no need to go check the list himself. Instead, he takes the time to watch Jongin calmly get in line. Seems Jongin doesn’t like the idea of pushing his way to the front either. That though brings a small smile on his face. 

Kyungsoo watches as Chanyeol walks up to Jongin and talks to him a bit. After they finish talking, Chanyeol walks right over to Kyungsoo. 

“I’m not his partner anymore but I saw who is” Chanyeol winks before walking away.

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo whisper-yells at his friend but clearly Chanyeol has no intention of continuing the conversation.

When Kyungsoo looks back at Jongin he’s already moved up quite a bit in the line. Was Chanyeol implying Kyungsoo is Jongin’s new partner? Why would he say that to him? Now Kyungsoo can’t do anything but fidget as he waits for his partner to approach him, Jongin or not. Eventually, Jongin is at the sheet and reads it, he turns around and looks right at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo starts to panic because Chanyeol really wasn’t kidding. Kyungsoo’s his new partner and they’re going to have to talk and Jongin probably hates him- Oh. Jongin’s smiling at him. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself. Kyungsoo fixes his glasses before looking away from Jongin to avoid blushing because of Jongin’s smile. 

“Hi” Jongin says with a smile before extending his hand “looks like we’re partners.”

“Right” Kyungsoo says before running his hand through his hair trying to think of something,  _ anything _ , to say “Uh- you should know I’m not great at potions.”

Why did he say that? Kyungsoo is great at potions, it's one of his favourite classes.

“A Ravenclaw who’s not good at school, huh?” Jongin teases and Kyungsoo almost laughs. He never expected their conversation to be so... normal. It’s just casual and calm, nothing to freak out over. Maybe this was all in his head, talking to Jongin isn't so hard. Kyungsoo hates when Chanyeol is right, it’s not often but it does happen. 

“We aren’t all perfect in every class” Kyungsoo mumbles. 

“That’s fine, I’m not great at it either” Jongin laughs “I’ve seen you a lot but we’ve never formally met. You’re one of Chanyeol’s friends right?”

“Yeah Chanyeol, also Sehun he’s a Slytherin.” Kyungsoo answers, he might be oversharing but Jongin asked after all.

“Bet you were jealous I stole one of your best friends for potions” Jongin smiles. 

“Never, Chanyeol’s so clumsy I’d be scared to test any potion he made” Kyungsoo chuckles, he’s relieved the conversation has moved to a subject that isn’t him. He can talk about his goofy tall friend all day without feeling awkward. Especially since Jongin knows him too. 

“I made him do it every time” Jongin admits with a giggle. 

“I know, after he had the invigorating potion he wouldn’t stop talking all night. Luckily, we’re in different houses so I just ran to my room” Kyungsoo says, remembering how annoying it was. 

“Baekhyun told me about that too” Jongin smiles, Kyungsoo might be starting to get used to that smile. It’s almost weird how quickly he’s getting used to Jongin’s presence “I was kind of worried about switching partners but I’m really happy it’s you.”

“O-oh” Kyungsoo blushes, he’s not used to compliments though “Yeah I guess I’m relieved too.”

Jongin opens his mouth to speak but Slughorn starts teaching and they have to pay attention. 

~=+•+=~

Kyungsoo debates for a while whether he should resume his otter persona and go into Jongin’s room or not. Kyungsoo continues to debate it as he strolls right into the Hufflepuff common’s room. On one hand, Jongin seems somewhat happy to see him as an otter, then again that was when he was awake. So should Kyungsoo wake him? He doesn’t really want to deprive Jongin of his sleep though. In that case, should he just check if Jongin is awake or-

Kyungsoo’s thoughts are interrupted when he smells something incredible. Fish. Unmistakably fish, probably leftovers from dinner. As a human, Kyungsoo has always liked fish but as an otter, he absolutely loves it. Kyungsoo doesn’t think twice before running to the source of the smell. 

Kyungsoo locates the fish and it’s just beside a sleeping Jongin. Looks like Jongin left the fish there for Kyungsoo and fell asleep waiting for Kyungsoo to arrive. Kyungsoo’s heart melts thinking about how sweet Jongin is. He crawls up Jongin and squeaks near his face hoping to wake him and show him how appreciative he is for the fish. Jongin slowly wakes up and Kyungsoo smiles

“Squishy” Jongin smiles at the otter “You are Squishy, right?”

Kyungsoo races back down Jongin’s body and eats the fish on the ground. Jongin coos at Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo would laugh if he could in his current form. Instead, he just eats, rather loudly. As an otter, he can’t help but make little happy noises as he chomps on the fish. 

“From now on you should come to see me at night ok Squishy?” Jongin says and Kyungsoo notes that in the back of his mind, he won’t mind coming back every night. He’ll lose some sleep but it’ll be worth it. Especially if there’s some fish. “Someone needs to feed you and I’m worried what would happen to you if you wander back outside. I heard there’s a hippogriff loose and they like ferrets, you’re kind of like a ferret.”

Kyungsoo imminently stops eating and stares at Jongin. Kyungsoo is not a ferret! Ferrets are smelly and  _ evil _ ! Chanyeol snuck one of those things into the castle to keep as a pet and it is  _ awful _ . Kyungsoo makes an upset squeak noise just thinking about the beast. 

“Wait can you understand me?” Jongin asks, Kyungsoo goes right back to eating to make it seem like he wasn’t paying attention “I’m pretty sure you can. If you’re not a pet and you can understand me then you must be magical somehow.”

Kyungsoo finishes the fish and quickly presses himself into Jongin’s hand before making a high pitched whining sound. He really does like being pet. He knows it’s a bit weird because he’s actually a human but everything feels different as an otter. Even his reactions are different, he’d pick fish over Jongin in a heartbeat as an otter. The same can not be said for his human form. 

“You like pets?” Jongin asks before petting Kyungsoo’s face “I guess you do.”

Jongin continues to pet Kyungsoo who very quickly crawls up to Jongin for more snuggling. It feels so nice and comforting, almost like a hug does for humans. 

“While I pet you I can tell you about my day” Jongin says “Would you like that?”

Kyungsoo wants to reply but of course, he can’t. So he just continues to relish the affection Jongin is giving him.

“I didn’t tell my friends about you” Jongin starts “I could have but since I don’t think you’re really allowed to be here, I wanted to keep it just between us. I might tell them eventually though, they’re good at keeping secrets. At least from the teachers. School was boring, you’re lucky you don’t have school. The only interesting thing was switching partners in potions.”

Kyungsoo freezes at the mention of potions. He’s worried about what Jongin might say next, specifically about him. He might not like it and Kyungsoo isn’t really ready to hear if Jongin secretly hates him. 

“Do you not like that word? Ok well I’ll just call it class then” Jongin says before continuing “Anyway, I used to have a great partner, Chanyeol. He’s cool and we get along well but I guess we’re a bit too loud. He’s with my other friend Minseok now, anyway, I’m with this guy named Kyungsoo. He’s kinda shy but I guess I am too sometimes. I think it’ll work out well. I don’t really know him but I don’t know... he seems nice. Maybe not as... lively as I’m used to but that’s ok. You’re plenty lively! I think you two would balance each other out. Maybe he could adopt you. I would but I already have a toad, Minnie, and I’m pretty sure you’d try to eat her.”

Kyungsoo cringes at the idea of eating a toad. Even as an otter that is utterly repulsive!

“If you’re pretending you don’t understand me, you’re not doing a great job” Jongin laughs “Then again I’m not entirely convinced you to understand English... ok you’re doing a decent job.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t quite know what to do but he decides to chirp at Jongin to ask him to resume petting him. 

“Ok ok!” Jongin laughs “Man you really like affection.”

Jongin picks up Kyungsoo by the shoulders and brings him close before kissing the otter’s forehead. He kissed him! Jongin just kissed him! Kyungsoo panics and tries to get out of Jongin’s hold as soon as possible because he cannot control his reactions anymore. Not that he was doing a fantastic job before. Just like before Kyungsoo runs away quickly to think about what just happened alone. 

~=+•+=~

“He kissed me” Kyungsoo says, feeling his heart beat quickly just thinking about it. 

“On the forehead” Sehun laughs “When he thought you were just an otter.”

“Changes nothing” Kyungsoo narrows his eyes. 

“Man how are you not a Slytherin” Chanyeol laughs. 

“I like learning and I’m not leader material” Kyungsoo shrugs “now can we please talk about Jongin again.”

“Like you talk about anything else” Sehun rolls his eyes “Just ask him out.”

“No!” Kyungsoo protests “Why do I have to keep explaining myself? It feels weird to know him when he doesn’t know me!”

“But now he’s your potions partner so everything’s good” Chanyeol says “You’ll get to talk and get close.”

“Did you set that up somehow?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“I might given Slughorn some hints” Chanyeol smiles “He loves setting up students.”

“Now you can stop creeping in his room at night as a weasel” Sehun laughs. 

“I would say I’m not a weasel but technically I am and I’m not creeping... anymore. He invited me” Kyungsoo explains. 

“He invited a little otter, not a 16-year-old wizard” Sehun deadpans. 

“Yeah about that, how did he never once think you’re an animagus.” Chanyeol frowns “I mean I know it’s only been two nights but he assumes you understand English and his first thought wasn’t animagus. Weird.”

“We’re rare? I don’t know” Kyungsoo shrugs. 

“Registered animagi are rare. I feel like no one does that anymore. The ministry is kinda shady, best to keep it to yourself” Sehun laughs "Unregistered is the way to go."  


“I will register... soon. Most people are older when they make the potion, they won’t question it.” Kyungsoo says “and I don’t want to end up in Azkaban if anyone finds out so I’ll tell them.” 

“Honestly it shouldn’t even be required by law. They should repeal it” Chanyeol says “just like they should repeal the rule that I can’t have a ferret.”

“But you do have one” Sehun says, confused. 

“Yes but he’s a secret, I shouldn’t have to do that” Chanyeol argues “there’s nothing wrong with having a pet ferret. Why toads but not ferrets? Unfair and-“

“As much as I’d love to continue a conversation about repealing legislation. We should all go to our dorms. It’s almost curfew.” Kyungsoo says standing up. 

“And then you’ll sneak out and crawl into Jongin’s lap?” Sehun asks while he gets up. 

Kyungsoo smacks the back of Sehun’s head for that comment. He will but- he’s doing it as an otter it’s different. 

“Ow Soo” Sehun whines “you’re small but strong.”

“I am and you better remember it” Kyungsoo threatens. 

“I’d be more afraid of what you can brew” Chanyeol laughs. 

“I don’t do anything untoward with my potions” Kyungsoo frowns.

“Except sneaking into boy’s rooms at night” Sehun laughs and Chanyeol high fives him. 

“Stop saying things like that! It’s only one boy!” Kyungsoo huffs “I need new friends.”

“Oh come on Soo, we’re only joking” Chanyeol pouts. 

“Whatever” Kyungsoo grumbles. 

“Fine, I’ll make it up to you. I can ask Jongin to hang out or something and bring you along and then suddenly have to leave” Chanyeol suggests “Then you won’t have to wait for potion’s class on Monday to talk to him again.”

“No it’s fine, I still get to talk to him at night... sort of.” Kyungsoo sighs. 

“If you say so” Chanyeol smiles “Offer’s always on the table though.”

“Thanks” Kyungsoo smiles back. 

~=+•+=~

Turns out, Kyungsoo doesn’t have to wait till Monday to see Jongin in his human form. On Saturday, Kyungsoo walks toward the library to do a little extra reading when he see Jongin looking around weirdly.

“Squishy” Jongin sings quietly “I can pet you now!” 

Jongin’s looking for him-well otter him but him. Kyungsoo didn’t think he cared that much, sure Jongin likes him but it’s Saturday, doesn’t he have other things he’d rather be doing? Jongin looks up at Kyungsoo, seemingly realizing he’ll need to explain himself. 

“Kyungsoo” Jongin says awkwardly “I’m uh- looking for my toad.”

“Your toad’s name is Minnie” Kyungsoo quickly answers without realizing that Jongin never told human Kyungsoo that he has a toad named Minnie, Jongin doesn’t seem to notice though.

“Oh uh yeah but she’s squishy so I also call her Squishy” Jongin laughs “Um she’s a small greenish toad, if you see her she uh likes being rubbed behind her head. Oh and give her back to me.” 

“Right ok I’ll keep an eye out” Kyungsoo nods before walking away quickly. 

Kyungsoo turns the corner and decides he’ll forsake the extra reading, instead he’ll turn into Squishy the otter and play with Jongin. Kyungsoo makes sure there’s no one around before making the transformation. Once he does, he runs back towards Jongin.

“Squishy” Jongin says again “please come out! I don’t have any fish but we can play!”

Kyungsoo squeaks to grab Jongin’s attention which works wonderfully. 

“Squishy! You came!” Jongin smiles before looking around, probably for other students “I can see you better in the light!”

Kyungsoo worries slightly. If he can see him better, surely he’ll notice his distinguishing feature. Kyungsoo is an otter with eyebrows, the same eyebrows as Kyungsoo. Jongin will put two and two together and-

“Ok let’s hide outside. I know a secret spot.” Jongin says to Kyungsoo.

Maybe he won’t notice. Jongin really must not understand animagi. 

Jongin walks towards the nearest exit and Kyungsoo follows closely behind. He has to run because otters aren’t as fast as humans but he keeps up. Jongin looks back at him and stops. 

“Actually you know what, I’ll hide you in my robe so no one will see you” Jongin says before picking up Kyungsoo and tucking him under his arm and covering him with the robe.

“No way!” Jongin says with excitement and Kyungsoo wishes he could see why. All he sees is the inside of a yellow robe “Oh my god I read about this! It’s the- whatever the come and go room! Baekhyun swears it appeared for him when he had to pee but I call bullshit cause that is literally a quote from Dumbledore in the book I read.” 

Jongin opens the door and walks in. He moves the robe out of Kyungsoo’s face so he can finally see. In the room, there are two smallish pools. One double the size of a hot tub and another that’s essentially the same size as a kiddy pool. Between them is a small water slide, perfectly sized for an otter. 

“Oh my god it’s perfect! We can play here!” Jongin yells excitedly before putting Kyungsoo down “there’s even towels! And some swim trunks!”

Jongin immediately throws his robes on the ground and starts unbuttoning his shirt. Oh Jongin is getting changed. In front of Kyungsoo because he thinks he’s just an otter. Kyungsoo should look away right? Why won’t his head turn! Sehun’s right, he’s such a perv. Jongin looks down at Kyungsoo, they make eye contact, and Kyungsoo’s almost sure he’s going to get scolded.

“Ok well I know you’re an otter but this still feels weird” Jongin says before picking up Kyungsoo “how about you play in the pool while I get changed, and don’t look!”

Jongin places Kyungsoo in the bigger pool and he immediately glides in. At the bottom of the pool, there seem to be some rocks and toys that Kyungsoo picks up. Kyungsoo loves rocks, it’s an otter thing. Just holding them is so fun. He also likes dropping them and watching them fall. The water feels so nice on his fur. He’s missed swimming, it’s so nice to be in his element.

After not too long, Kyungsoo feels the water move and he looks over where the waves are from. Jongin has joined him! Kyungsoo drops the rock he was holding and swims up to see Jongin. Jongin smiles at Kyungsoo and his heart does that flip-flop thing. 

“I look different now right?” Jongin laughs “I wonder if you’ve ever seen a human who’s not wearing robes.” 

Kyungsoo smirks internally, he’s most certainly seen humans without robes. Just not this one in particular. Jongin has abs which honestly, Kyungsoo isn’t too surprised about. Still, Kyugnsoo swims closer before putting his tiny otter hand on Jongin’s chest. It’s so warm... and firm.

“Yeah, I have skin” Jongin laughs. 

Kyungsoo flushes, he shouldn’t have done that. Kyungsoo pulls away and starts playing again. He loves the slide so much, going up and down the slide many times. He’s never been on a slide as an otter and while this is just a straight slide with a very small incline, it’s so fun. They play for another hour until Jongin and Kyungsoo get a little tired. With the towels provided, Jongin dries himself and Kyungsoo. 

“Stay” Jongin says, dropping the towel on Kyungsoo’s head. Kyungsoo listens because he really doesn’t want to invade Jongin’s privacy more than he is already. After Jongin is changed he pulls the towel off Kyungsoo’s head. 

“Hope it’ll show up again, that was fun” Jongin smiles. 

Kyungsoo chirps in agreement. He would love to do this again, mostly for the water and the toys but partially to see Jongin shirtless again. 

~=+•+=~

“You need to be careful with the powdered porcupine quills” Kyungsoo says as Jongin mixes the ingredient in “if you add too much instead of calming whoever drinks the potion, you’ll end up putting them to sleep. Maybe forever.”

“I thought you were bad at this” Jongin smiles. 

Kyungsoo cringes internally, he really shouldn’t have said that. 

“I like learning things” Kyungsoo says shyly to cover his lie “doesn’t mean I would add the right amount.” 

“Three shakes is good, right?” Jongin asks adding a third “that should be enough. I’d rather a potion that barely makes people calm than one that turns them into sleeping beauty.” 

“I don’t think a kiss would wake you from the potion though” Kyungsoo mumbles. 

“Be worth a try though” Jongin smiles before looking at Kyungsoo's face. Kyungsoo blushes, is Jongin flirting with him? “if I fall asleep, feel free to wake me with a kiss!” 

“S-sure” Kyungsoo sputters. He wouldn’t say no to Jongin kissing him but the thought has his brain going crazy “but it wouldn’t work. You’d stay asleep.”

“I won’t drink it if you don’t want me to.” Jongin answers more seriously. 

“No it should be fine, Professor Slughorn will tell us if we did it right anyway.” Kyungsoo says taking a deep breath “ok now we just need to turn it clockwise and counterclockwise 7 times.” 

“Does that mean 7 times of each?” Jongin asks “which do we start with?” 

“This book sucks” Kyungsoo sighs. 

“No kidding” Jongin says before handing the spoon to Kyungsoo “you want to do the honours.”

“After an hour and a half of doing this stupid potion, I really need it” Kyungsoo sighs before he starts stirring. 

“Me too, especially because I’ve been missing out on some sleep” Jongin says as he watches Kyungsoo work. 

“Do you have trouble sleeping?” Kyungsoo asks. He knows it’s because Jongin stays up late talking to an otter who just so happens to be him but he has to ask to keep the act up. 

“No it’s- I just stay up too late” Jongin answers. 

“So do I” Kyungsoo smiles before stirring in the other direction 7 times “there, should be done.” 

“Actually there’s more on the next page” Jongin says showing it to Kyungsoo “7 drops of hellebore syrup needs to be added now, flames should be deceased and then we leave it for 7 minutes.” 

“I’ve made food more complicated” Kyungsoo shrugs before adding the syrup. 

Jongin decreases the flames before turning back to Kyungsoo. 

“You like cooking?” Jongin asks. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo smiles brightly “I’m- well my parents aren’t uh witches? I’m muggle-born.” 

“You have two moms?” Jongin asks. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo smiles. Kyungsoo really appreciates that Jongin just seems interested. He knows Jongin is a good person but it’s always a little nerve-wracking to admit to being a muggle-born. “technically I’m only blood related to one of them so I guess I could be a half-blood but at home, there’s no magic. So I cook a lot. Both of my moms like cooking so they taught me too. It’s really fun.” 

“I’m not good at it” Jongin admits “I wish I was but here and even at home, people make my food for me. Except toast and some other things I make but nothing special.” 

“I could teach you” Kyungsoo offers “I mean- not here but maybe during the summer?” 

“That sounds really fun” Jongin smiles. His smiles really are stunning, Kyungsoo almost can’t stop staring but their professor pulls him out of his daze. 

“Well done you two” Slughorn says approaching the cauldron “the silver vapour means you brewed it correctly. Do it exactly like this for your OWLs and you’ll be getting an O.” 

“Thank you” Jongin and Kyungsoo say in unison. 

“I can imagine you’ll want to drink some now? It’s been a long class” Slughorn smiles. 

“I’ll drink it” Jongin smiles. 

Jongin puts a small amount in a vial before downing it in one shot. Kyungsoo watches carefully while he does it. He doesn’t look sleepy, which is good, just... calm.

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Hi” Jongin smiles back at Kyungsoo “I feel like it’s summer or something. So peaceful.” 

“Then it works perfectly” Slughorn smiles before walking away. 

“Ah!” Someone screams from beside Kyungsoo and Jongin. 

It appears as though Chanyeol and Minseok’s potion has somehow exploded and set Chanyeol’s robes on fire. Chanyeol seems to be drawn to fire, all of his potions that backfire set him on fire for some reason, yet he doesn’t get burnt. Kyungsoo has always wondered how that’s possible. He does have a phoenix feather in his wand so maybe it has to do with that. 

Slughorn quickly puts out the fire and no one is hurt. 

“I’m glad that didn’t happen to us” Kyungsoo says.

“You should drink some” Jongin says. 

“What?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Drink some of the draught of peace, you look stressed” Jongin says before nudging Kyungsoo. 

“There was just a fire, of course I’m stressed” Kyungsoo says before looking at the white liquid “but yeah ok, why not.” 

Kyungsoo does just what Jongin did, putting some in a vile and drinking it in one shot. It tastes... interesting, like warm milk and maybe cinnamon? It’s calming and warm-feeling. Like a fuzzy blanket. 

“It’s nice right?” Jongin smiles. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo says, blinking a few times, his eyes start feeling rather heavy “I think I’m just gonna-“ 

Kyungsoo doesn’t finish his sentence before he’s falling. After that, Kyungsoo can only hear the distance scream of a familiar voice. 

~=+•+=~

Kyungsoo stares at the little pink bottle in his pocket. Jongin left their little study session to use the bathroom and he left his coffee mug right there. It would be so easy to pour the potion into Jongin’s drink. Yes, amortentia isn’t love but if Jongin experiences infatuation, it could turn into something genuine. 

But he shouldn’t do it, yet the temptation is strong and Jongin will be back soon. This could be his only chance. Before Kyungsoo can overthink it some more, he opens the thermos and looks at the milky coffee. He pours the vial into Jongin’s coffee thermos and closes again. Shortly after, Jongin returns and sits down. 

“Alright so laughing potion” Jongin says as he opens the book “One of the ingredients is actual laughter?”

Kyungsoo pauses for a moment. Wasn’t that a 6th-year potion? Kyungsoo knows it but only because he’s advanced in potions. As a 5th years, they shouldn’t need to be studying it.

“Yeah, we have to giggle at it, at least one of us” Kyungsoo answers.

“I’m pretty good at laughing” Jongin smiles before picking up his coffee and drinking it “Hmm tastes sweeter than I remember.”

Kyungsoo tries not to freak out. He drank it, Jongin drank the potion. Jongin just puts the thermos down without doing anything out of the ordinary though. 

“Guess I didn’t stir the sugar in well enough so it’s at the bottom” Jongin shrugs “Oh well.”

“Y-yeah probably” Kyungsoo nods. 

Amortentia causes obsession and infatuation, similar to real infatuation but without any form of love. Jongin should change his behaviour. Obviously, he can control his emotions, it’s not like the potion takes over all his thoughts but there should be _at least_ a small, visual indication. 

“Should we get back to the potion right?” Jongin asks. 

“Uh actually” Kyungsoo says clearing his throat “I have to go, Chanyeol just texted me.”

“Texted?” Jongin asks, confused at the word. 

“It’s a technology thing... muggle thing” Kyungsoo mumbles “anyway, point is I have to go.”

“Oh, ok” Jongin nods. 

Kyungsoo frowns and gets up and leaves before immediately running towards the place he  _ knows _ Chanyeol is hanging out. Kyungsoo briefly debates turning into an otter to spend time with Jongin. That always makes him feel more comfortable since Jongin won’t be judging him as  _ Kyungsoo _ . However, Jongin is in the library so Kyungsoo can’t just waltz in there as an otter. So Chanyeol seems like the best choice right now. 

As Kyungsoo walks down the hall Chanyeol should be in, he smells a strong smell. It’s repulsive, Kyungsoo almost chokes on the smell. It isn’t till he sees Chanyeol that he understands what happened. 

“Messed up another spell?” Kyungsoo teases. 

“Yeah kinda” Chanyeol laughs while trying to fix his mad scientist-looking hair “why are you here though? Thought you were meant to be studying with Jongin.” 

“Yes I was but I kind of sort of dosed him with amortentia” Kyungsoo admits. 

“Why!” Chanyeol yells loudly. 

“Because- it doesn’t matter ok. Point is, I did it but it didn’t actually change anything. He just acted the way he was acting before!” Kyungsoo answers. 

“What? How is that possible?” Chanyeol asks. 

“It’s not! He’s supposed to be obsessed with me, he should have followed me all the way here but he didn’t. He stayed in the library” Kyungsoo says in frustration “I know I brewed it right! It was perfect!”

“Maybe it’s instant karma” Chanyeol scoffs. 

“What?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“You did something wrong so the universe is repaying you by not letting it work” Chanyeol says seriously. 

“But if it didn’t work, I didn’t do anything wrong.” Kyungsoo says confused. 

“That’s not true, intention is everything” Chanyeol shakes his head “attempted murder is a crime.”

“Fine whatever, call it karma. There still has to be a reason, a magical reason, why it didn’t work” Kyungsoo answers. 

“I mean it creates fake love right?” Chanyeol asks rhetorically “so let’s say, Jongin already loved you. It would have nothing to do.” 

“W-what” Kyungsoo stutters. 

“Think about it! If you drink a second potion to turn you into an animagus it wouldn’t work, because you’re already an animagus” Chanyeol reasons. 

“So Jongin’s already in love with me? Or at least infatuated?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“I don’t know but it makes sense” Chanyeol shrugs “I’ll say this one more time but I’m getting really tired of it, go talk to him.” 

“Yeah, yeah ok I’ll do that” Kyungsoo nods “I’ll talk to him.” 

Kyungsoo walks back to the library in hopes that he’ll find Jongin there but before he even gets there Jongin comes walking up to Kyungsoo with his coffee in his hand. He found out-

“Kyungsoo!” Jongin yells before walking up to Kyungsoo “I’m not a coffee fanatic but I’m pretty sure lattes don’t usually smell like fried chicken, lotuses and the pool.”

“Yeah that sounds kind of weird” Kyungsoo says biting his lip. 

“I know what amortentia is” Jongin deadpans.

“You don’t seem like you’re affected by amortentia” Kyungsoo says trying to play dumb. 

“Really? That’s all you’re going to say?” Jongin asks. 

“Do you want us to look up a counter potion?” Kyungsoo asks surprisingly, keeping his cool while his heart feels like it might shrivel up and die. 

“Uh- Ok listen I think it’s both we come clean” Jongin sighs “There’s this... friend I have. He always cheers me up. He’s really excitable, really fun and cuddly. I feel like I’m describing Baekhyun! But no, my friend isn’t actually like Baekhyun. My friend is a lot cuter.”

“Oh” Kyungsoo says, bowing his head, so Jongin is in love with someone. 

“He’s an otter” Jongin laughs “You guys have a lot in common actually. Which is weird because if you were going to be an animal I’d say you’d be a penguin or an owl. Do you not get to pick what animal you turn into when you’re an animagus?”

“What?” Kyungsoo says shooting his eyes up to look at Jongin “From what I know, which isn’t much, by the way, animagi can’t pick the animal no. Just like you don’t pick a patronus.”

“Kyungsoo I’m saying I know you’re Squishy” Jongin smiles “So will you admit that you gave me amortentia that didn’t even work because I’m already obsessed with you?”

“You knew?” Kyungsoo asks, shocked.

“You’re an otter with eyebrows, yeah I knew” Jongin laughs. 

“A-and you like me back?” Kyungsoo smiles. 

“I do, a lot” Jongin says, taking a step closer to Kyungsoo. 

Kyungsoo was about to lean in before he feels a pinch on his ear. He turns around and sees Sehun. 

“No PDA” Sehun snickers. 

“Sehun!” Kyungsoo yells loudly before chasing down his friend who’s already running. 

Once he catches Sehun he tackles him and pinches his ear right back. 

“You brat! Don’t you know how rude that was?” Kyungsoo pouts. 

“Don’t you know it’s rude not to tell your best friend you started dating your crush?” Sehun whines. 

“We aren’t- we might be, but you interrupted!” Kyungsoo says getting up off the ground and fixes his robes.

“Oh sorry!” Sehun says with horror in his eyes “Sorry Jongin!”

“It’s fine” Jongin laughs before walking over. 

“Get lost” Kyungsoo says to Sehun who quickly smirks and walks away. 

“I’d like to start dating my crush, how about you?” Jongin smiles with a confidence Kyungsoo hasn’t really seen from Jongin before.

“I’d love to” Kyungsoo smiles wider. 

Kyungsoo leans in while simultaneously starting to go on his tippy toes to reach Jongin. Damn him and his abnormal tallness, although Kyungsoo does kind of like that he’s tall. Jongin smiles down at Kyungsoo who stills, was he not supposed to kiss him? Why is he just smiling like that?

“That was a joke though right?” Jongin asks 

“What was?” Kyungsoo asks.

“The whole sleeping beauty thing” Jongin laughs. 

“Well I’m not sleeping” Kyungsoo smiles before finally closing the distance. 

Kissing Jongin feels exactly like Kyungsoo pictured it. His lips are soft fits perfectly against his. He can feel his heart speed up in his chest but for once he’s not upset about it. Before Kyungsoo can deepen the kiss, Jongin pulls away with a smile. Kyungsoo pouts at Jongin who just smiles and replies by kissing Kyungsoo cutely on the forehead. Kyungsoo smiles at the sudden adorably innocent act. Jongin is still the sweet guy Kyungsoo fell for. 

Kyungsoo hears a loud screech and covers his eyes and shuts his eyes. When he opens them again he’s not in the hall with Jongin. He’s in a bed, not his bed, a hospital bed. It was all just a dream, the amortentia, Jongin finding out about him being Squishy, the confession, the kiss. That draught of peace put him to sleep. Kyungsoo feels a bit hurt when reality crashes into him. 

To his right, he sees Jongin sitting in a chair with his head between his knees... interesting. 

“Why is it dark?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Kyungsoo! You’re awake!” Jongin yells. 

“How long?” Kyungsoo asks as he blinks and rubs his eyes. 

“It’s 4 am now” Jongin answers “so... 15 hours, still didn’t beat my record of 24 hours.”

“I’ve slept 16 hours before” Kyungsoo answers as he starts to sit up. 

“You were wrong about the kiss, it worked. I should have done it a while ago” Jongin laughs. 

“What” Kyungsoo says with horror as he whips his head to Jongin. Did Jongin see his dreams somehow?

“F-forehead- I kissed your forehead! Just that! But you woke up after so-“ Jongin says as he starts to panic. 

“Oh! T-thanks then” Kyungsoo says, biting his lips. Not the kiss they shared in the dream, just the little forehead kiss at the end. Maybe he didn’t just imagine that part then...

“I’m really glad you’re awake now. I felt so bad” Jongin says looking down. 

“It wasn’t your fault” Kyungsoo quickly dismisses “and it wasn’t so bad, just took a long nap. I had nice dreams too.” 

“What were they?” Jongin asks. 

“I-I” Kyungsoo pauses. No, he can’t tell Jongin any of it. “I forget but they were nice.” 

“Hate when that happens” Jongin smiles. 

“Jongin, would you mind escorting Kyungsoo to his dormitory before returning to your own” The nurse says walking up to them “I trust you’ll be able to sleep now that you know he’s ok.”

“Uh” Jongin blushes. He had trouble sleeping? Because of Kyungsoo? “yeah for sure.” 

“Alright let’s go” Kyungsoo says before getting out of bed. 

The pair walk out of the hospital and towards the Ravenclaw dormitory. 

“Thanks for waiting with me” Kyungsoo says, breaking their silence. 

“I wanted to” Jongin admits “like the nurse said I just had trouble sleeping.” 

“Now that _you_ woke me up everything’s fine though” Kyungsoo smiles.

“I don’t think the kiss actually worked” Jongin laughs “it was just good timing.” 

“Why did you do it?” Kyungsoo asks, does real-life Jongin like him like the dream did? No that’s crazy...

“I thought you’d be ok with it” Jongin says unsure. 

“I am” Kyungsoo nods “I just want to know why you decided to do it.” 

“We joked about it so I don’t know I figured you’d find it funny? It seems stupid now...” Jongin lets out a sigh. 

“It wasn’t stupid” Kyungsoo shakes his head he stops walking and Jongin does too before looking at him “this is close enough, I don’t you hearing the password.” 

“Oh right” Jongin laughs. 

“Get some sleep ok?” Kyungsoo says before grabbing Jongin’s head and pulling it down a bit to kiss his forehead “there. Since yours woke me up, mine should put you to sleep.” 

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything else as he turns around and walks straight for his dormitory. He tries really hard not to freak out while Jongin can still see him. He doesn’t regret kissing him though, not at all. 

~=+•+=~

Kyungsoo walks into the dinning hall for breakfast, he searches for his friends carefully. He hasn’t seen them since he woke up and he’s sure they’ve been really worried about him. The news that he woke up might have gotten to them but still, they haven’t been reunited. Kyungsoo finally finds them and they both stand up the second they see him. Kyungsoo smiles brightly at his friends before walking over quickly to join them. 

“You’re awake!” Chanyeol says excitedly but he looks like he might actually be on the verge of tears. 

“Just took a long nap, no big deal” Kyungsoo laughs while he sits down. 

“You had us terrified” Sehun says with a pout “You know some people don’t wake up. When we came to see you I almost cried but Jongin was there so I didn’t... until he left.”

“Jongin was there? How long did Jongin stay beside me?” Kyungsoo asks, he knew he was there at night but not during the day.

“All day until dinner” Chanyeol answers “I told you he didn’t hate you. Seems like he blamed himself your quote-unquote long nap.”

“I drank it, how was it his fault?” Kyungsoo frowns. 

He looks over at where Jongin is sitting. Jongin is blushing and all his friends are laughing, Kyungsoo wonders why. It’s kind of cute though.

“Don’t know. Baekhyun just kept whining about it” Chanyeol shrugs “Guess cause he told you to drink it?”

“Baekhyun?” Sehun asks. 

“One of Jongin’s friends, my roommate? Dude keep up” Chanyeol laughs. 

Speaking of Baekhyun, he just yelled something that sounds suspiciously like “Nini has a crush”. Ah, so that’s why they’re teasing him. 

“Earth to Kyungsoo?” Sehun says waving his hand in Kyungsoo’s face “You awake or was yesterday not enough sleep?”

“You have a lot to catch up on” Chanyeol mumbles. 

“I like meeting Jongin as an otter. It’s fun and freeing because I’m not myself exactly” Kyungsoo glares “Certainly worth the lack of sleep.”

“Do you think that’s why the potion put you to sleep?” Sehun asks. 

“I don’t know. I’m good at brewing them but I don’t know why they backfire sometimes” Kyungsoo shrugs. 

“Maybe don’t ever drink it again then” Chanyeol says as a joke but Kyungsoo can sense the pain in his voice too. 

“I won’t” Kyungsoo nods “Promise”

Chanyeol and Sehun seem pleased with that answer. 

~=+•+=~

“That’s it for today's class” Professor Slughorn concludes “Remember, we’ll be practicing the production of strengthening solution next week so study up. It’s a tricky potion and we’ll be doing it in two parts but it’s difficult even with the break in between.”

“You know, I think you lied about being bad at potions” Jongin laughs before turning his attention from the professor to Kyungsoo. 

_ Yes, _ Kyungsoo thinks, maybe now’s the time to come clean. At least a bit. 

“I’m not a prodigy or anything” Kyungsoo says quickly “Just- ok it might be one of my top classes. I just didn’t want to intimidate you.”

“No- Yeah well I think it’s a uh good thing! Having a smart partner” Jongin says a little awkwardly. Kyungsoo hasn’t really seen him nervous like this before. Maybe he did see Kyungsoo’s dream somehow?

“Maybe we should meet up, to study that strengthening solution.” Kyungsoo suggests. 

“Yes! That is a great idea! Not Saturday, I’m busy Saturday- I’m um” Jongin says and Kyungsoo almost laughs. He knows Saturdays are when they find the room of requisition for swimming, it’s just cute seeing Jongin try to hide that “I have a thing with my friends.”

“Sunday then?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Sounds good” Jongin nods. 

“We can meet in the library” Kyungsoo adds “Ok well I better get to my next class.”

“Yeah, me too” Jongin says, grabbing his stuff. 

That night Kyungsoo turns into an otter and runs to the Hufflepuff dormitory, which is quite the work out as an otter. He’s gonna end up as fit as Jongin if he keeps this up. They’ve been taking a break from talking at night for a little while. Jongin said he needs more sleep and Kyungsoo certainly understands that, but tonight they’re meant to meet again. Jongin is lucky Kyungsoo is a person and not a real otter, a real otter would probably be sad when Jongin decided to stop showing up for their late-night pets. 

“Squishy!” Jongin smiles as Kyungsoo approaches “I’m so glad you came! I hope you weren’t too lonely without me!”

Kyungsoo just climbs onto Jongin’s legs while making his regular squeaks, demanding attention. 

“I’ve really missed you but I guess I need sleep too” Jongin laughs “A lot has happened since we last met. Well really it happened a little while ago but I haven’t talked about it yet. I was scared to talk about it, is that weird? I tell you everything but this... I don’t know. It’s hard to talk about I guess.”

Kyungsoo moves away from Jongin’s hand and looks at his face. Is Jongin going to open up about something? Is it serious? Is Jongin hurt?

“It’s nothing bad! Just... mmmh. Maybe a little embarrassing? I feel vulnerable talking about it” Jongin says while petting Squishy “I have a crush.”

Kyungsoo freezes like he’s under a petrification spell. So Kyungsoo did overhear Baekhyun right that day, Jongin has a crush. Kyungsoo’s not sure he’s ready for this talk. 

“It’s not a bad thing Squishy, I know the word itself is a little scary sounding but it’s a happy thing” Jongin smiles down at Kyungsoo “It means there’s a person who makes my heart beat a little harder- well that doesn’t sound so nice. A person who makes me smile, someone I’d like to hold and cuddle with. Share all my secrets and trust them. Like what I do with you, except not because you’re an otter.”

Kyungsoo can’t look at him anymore, his heart is pounding so hard all he wants to do is hide. Kyungsoo curls himself up along Jongin’s arm, placing his face into the crook of Jongin’s arm. Jongin found someone.

“I probably won’t do anything about it though” Jongin laughs “I’m not courageous, no wonder I’m not a Gryffindor. I’ll probably just keep staring and hoping, I’m not good at talking around my crushes. Actually, I usually avoid talking to them completely because I’m so scared of messing up. So don’t even worry about cheering me up after rejection, I won’t get that far.”

Kyungsoo pulls his face out of Jongin’s arm and looks up at Jongin. He’s not going to confess? So Kyungsoo might still technically have a shot? Or at the very least he won’t have to see Jongin with someone else? Kyungsoo looks at Jongin’s face and notices a tear fall from Jongin’s face. Kyungsoo’s heart clenches at the sight. Quickly, Kyungsoo crawls up Jongin’s arm until he’s very close to Jongin’s face. 

“What?” Jongin asks.

Kyungsoo puts his little hand on Jongin’s cheek and pulls it back to try to wipe Jongin’s tears for him. 

“Oh” Jongin says, realizing what Kyungsoo is looking at “I didn’t realize I had teared up. Don’t worry though, it’s just late. I tear up when I yawn too.”

Jongin yawns just thinking of the word and Kyungsoo yawns too but it feels weird as an otter.

“I’ve never had a crush work out for me” Jongin admits “That’s why I’m a little, tiny bit, upset. I just don’t want that to happen again. Last time I had a crush it was on this really pretty Slytherin girl. She had golden blond hair and full rosy cheeks that looked just so adorable when she smiled. She always looked so happy? And beautiful, she was stunning. I would think she wasn’t entirely human because of how beautiful she was but I know that’s not true. She was a couple of years older so she’s not at school anymore. I used to see her around the castle a lot though, always made me smile until one day I saw her making out with her boyfriend. I was... heartbroken. I might not get outright rejected but I don’t want something like that to happen again.”

If Kyungsoo’s heart hurt before, it hurts a lot more now. Sure, Kyungsoo doesn’t like the idea of Jongin liking someone else but it hurts more how wounded Jongin seems. He should at least try to fall in love right? Jongin deserves to have whoever he wants, even if that isn’t Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo makes some little whining sounds just by reflex and Jongin smiles at him.

“Sorry for telling you all this, I guess I’m in a bit of a mood” Jongin laughs a little “Would you rather I just pet you and tell you how you’re my favourite otter in the whole world.”

Kyungsoo would prefer that, he wants to be comforted too. Plus Jongin always seems to cheer up when he pets Kyungsoo. 

~=+•+=~

“Ok now I know you’re wondering why I called you here” Chanyeol says in the cramped tiny part of the hallway he likes hanging out in, it’s big enough for one Chanyeol but not all three of them. 

“Duh” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. 

“In history of magic today, I learned something very interesting” Chanyeol says. 

“It’s history of magic, it’s not interesting” Sehun laughs. 

“Shush” Chanyeol dismisses “This is about Jongin.”

Kyungsoo perks up at the name. 

“Well you got his attention” Sehun says pointing to Kyungsoo. 

“He was getting scolded in class for talking to Baekhyun and Baekhyun said it was because Jongin didn’t know about animagi, so he was explaining it to him” 

“This came up, how?” Sehun asks. 

“Something about a criminal leopard, I don’t know, that’s not the point” Chanyeol frowns at Sehun “He literally didn’t know about animagi, that explains why he has no idea you’re an animagi!”

“How is that possible, we’re in 5th year” Sehun scoffs “You picked a smart one Soo.”

“Say that again” Kyungsoo growls. 

“Chill Soo” Chanyeol laughs “But now he knows.”

“Ah yeah, that might be a problem” Sehun winces. 

“That doesn’t mean he’ll know it’s me though, right?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“I mean, it’s kind of obvious” Sehun says quietly.

“You should come clean before he finds out” Chanyeol suggests. 

“I can’t” Kyungsoo shakes his head “No way.”

“He’ll find out eventually Kyungsoo” Sehun says, joining Chanyeol’s side. 

“I know but I still can’t do it” Kyungsoo frowns “He’ll be so betrayed.”

“It’ll be worse if he finds out on his own” Chanyeol says seriously. 

“Yeah but- I just can’t do it” Kyungsoo says, feeling awful. 

“Are you still going to see him in the room of requisition on Saturday?” Chanyeol asks. 

“And to study on Sunday?” Sehun asks. 

“Yes to both. I’m just going to do exactly what I did before” Kyungsoo says stubbornly “I like what we have.”

“It’s your choice I guess” Chanyeol concludes. 

“Thanks” Kyungsoo smiles “Now can we get out of this stupid corner?”

“Next time, I pick the secret meeting spot” Sehun laughs as they walk out.

“Alright fine” Chanyeol laughs. 

~=+•+=~

When Jongin meets Kyungsoo on Saturday for more playing in the pool, he doesn’t mention anything about animagi so maybe his friends were wrong. Maybe he won’t figure it out. Although Kyungsoo would like to think Jongin is more than smart enough to discover Kyungsoo’s secret. It would be easier if he didn’t though. 

Kyungsoo’s thoughts are shattered when he meets Jongin in the library on Sunday though. When Kyungsoo finds him, he has a book about animagi open. 

“What are you reading?” Kyungsoo smiles sitting down across from Jongin before frowning at the book “Animagus?”

“Yeah, it was mentioned in class and I totally blanked so I thought I should study them a bit” Jongin smiles while finishing up his reading “it’s interesting, the potion is quite hard to craft.”

“Yeah lightning storm and- stuff I don't know” Kyungsoo forces out. He should seem as least knowledgeable on the subject as possible right?

“Are you ok?” Jongin asks, finally looking up at Kyungsoo.

“Fine” Kyungsoo says quickly switching to a smile “We’re studying the potion, right? I found a good book with some extra info we might need.”

“Y-yeah” Jongin stutters out before taking a deep breath, why is he so nervous? “Sounds good.”

They study the text together taking some notes. Seems like there are some helpful tricks to crafting correctly. It’s hard to read because the book is rather old and the English is confusing but they manage it. 

“So we’ll make sure to use the freshest salamander blood then. Brighter the better” Kyungsoo notes on his notepad. 

“Squishy” Jongin whispers. 

Kyungsoo’s head whips to Jongin, Jongin instantly looks away. He knows! Kyungsoo is so fucked!

“W-what?” Kyungsoo asks, a little shaky. 

“Nothing, nothing” Jongin dismisses “Your cheeks are just- never mind.”

“My cheeks are squishy?” Kyungsoo asks, maybe he doesn’t know afterall. 

“I don’t mean it as an insult” Jongin says looking at the book “I just noticed I guess.”

“Ok uh” Kyungsoo swallows. He’s starting to feel way too uncomfortable near Jongin. All this push and pull, does he know or not, is driving Kyungsoo insane “I think that’s all we need from this so I'll just go back to my room.”

“Oh” Jongin says looking up at Kyungsoo “bye.”

~=+•+=~

“Squishy” Jongin starts “I need to talk to you about something serious.”

Kyungsoo stops playing around and looks up at Jongin. He’s really bad at hiding the fact he understands English.

“I know you’re an unregistered animagus” Jongin says seriously “and I’m ok with it but why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you come to me as a human? You know I wouldn’t tell anyone about you. Aren’t we friends?”

Kyungsoo imagined he’d be much more terrified of this moment than he is. At least he doesn’t know who Kyungsoo is. Kyungsoo fidgets a bit in Jongin’s lap before hoping off. He doesn’t feel comfortable being all cuddly if Jongin knows. 

“Can you just transform back into a human so we can talk?” Jongin asks. 

Kyungsoo can’t do that. No way, absolutely not. He shakes his head to signify “no”. 

“Why not?” Jongin frowns “I trust you with everything but I can’t even know who you are? Are you even a boy?”

Kyungsoo nods his head yes. 

“Do you at least like the name Squishy?” Jongin asks. 

Does he? It’s a bit silly but it’s cute and it’s the name Jongin chose for him so of course, he’s fond of it. Kyungsoo shakes his head yes. 

“Well that’s good I guess.” Jongin sighs “I just- I don’t know I share so much with you. I’m just a little hurt you won’t share with me.” 

He doesn’t mean to hurt Jongin! That’s the last thing he wants to do! There’s still no way he can turn back into a human though. He can’t bring himself to do it, even if he’s hurting Jongin. He’s so selfish. Kyungsoo feels terrible but the least he can do is try to comfort Jongin. He puts his hand on Jongin’s much larger one to show he cares. 

“I know you don’t want to transform into a human but can I at least ask you some questions?” Kyungsoo hesitates but nods slowly “if you don’t like the question you can just squeak and I’ll know to ask another one.” 

Oh good, he has an out, then Kyungsoo is more than happy to share with Jongin. He nods his head enthusiastically. 

“Great” Jongin smiles “Do you know my name?” 

Kyungsoo nods. He didn’t realize until now but Jongin never told “Squishy” his name.

“Are we in the same grade?” Jongin asks. Kyungsoo decides that’s too personal and might lead Jongin into finding out who he is so he squeaks in response “ok, fine. Can you at least tell me if you’re a student?”

Kyungsoo decides that that isn’t too much information so he nods. He wants Jongin knowing he’s not an adult. 

“Can I guess your house?” Jongin smiles. 

Kyungsoo laughs at how precious and cute Jongin is, except he doesn’t because otters can’t laugh. It comes out all garbled and weird so Kyungsoo just nods to answer Jongin properly. 

“Hmmm, Gryffindor! The Gryffindors I know are playful like you” Jongin says, but Kyungsoo shakes his head no “no? What about my house? Hufflepuff?” 

Kyungsoo shakes his head again. 

“Ravenclaw then” Jongin says and Kyungsoo nods “perfect, I’m so good at this.” 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes playfully, this was literally his last chance to get it right. 

“What! At least I knew you weren’t a Slytherin!” Jongin defends “I don’t know why you don’t want to show me who you are. I think we’d be really great friends!”

Kyungsoo squeaks at Jongin.

“What! That wasn’t even a question!” Jongin laughs “I want to keep asking you questions but I also miss petting you so, if you’re ok with it, please let me pet you.” 

Kyungsoo walks back onto Jongin and presses his head into Jongin’s hand affectionately. He does miss being pet by Jongin so he agrees although it seems a little weirder now that Jongin knows he’s a wizard and not an otter.

~=+•+=~

Kyungsoo comes to terms with the idea that Jongin knows he’s not a real otter. Jongin doesn’t seem that upset about it so, then he wouldn’t be too upset about finding out it’s Kyungsoo right? Kyungsoo should do what his friends said and just come clean, but it’s still so hard. Kyungsoo sighs and decides to just watch the fire in the Ravenclaw common room in hopes that it can at least clear his thoughts. 

“Kyungsoo!” Minseok yells “Jongin wants to talk to you,  _ privately _ .” 

Kyungsoo looks up and sees that Minseok, a fellow Ravenclaw, has brought Jongin into their common room. No! Kyungsoo is supposed to be safe here! It’s the one place he doesn’t have to worry about seeing Jongin!

The room erupts in a bunch of “oooo”s and some teasing catcalls. 

“Not like that, guys stop being stupid” Minseok sighs before leaving Jongin alone in the Ravenclaw common room. Kyungsoo supposes he has to talk to him now. Kyungsoo gets up and walks towards Jongin. 

“You want to talk?” Kyungsoo asks nervously. 

“Yeah, maybe in your room. If that’s ok?” Jongin asks. 

“It’s a little messy... but sure” Kyungsoo nods. 

Kyungsoo leads Jongin to his room, luckily all his roommates are busy or something because they aren’t there. 

Once they’re in and the door is closed Kyungsoo looks at Jongin. He searches his face for any sign of what this might be about. Hopefully, it’s just about potions-

“You’re Squishy” Jongin says finally. 

“What? My cheeks? Yeah they’re kinda squishy” Kyungsoo says, putting on a small smile. 

“No, you’re Squishy, the otter” Jongin says seriously while looking deep into his eyes. Kyungsoo feels like he can read his soul.

“Otter?” Kyungsoo asks playing dumb.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jongin frowns “last night, I asked you to change and you didn’t? Why? I thought we were... close. As an otter and as wizards.” 

“A person can’t be an otter” Kyungsoo laughs. 

“Stop lying to me” Jongin says sadly “d-do I not matter to you? Is that why you won’t admit it?” 

“What? Jongin, no you matter a lot to me” Kyungsoo says. No way will he have Jongin thinking that. Jongin is so important to him. 

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Jongin asks, feeling hurt. 

“I-I, I was scared” Kyungsoo finally admits “I just didn’t want to ruin what we had, as people or with me as an otter.” 

“But I just wanted to know” Jongin pouts “I didn’t want to change anything, I just wanted to know who you were.” 

“But it will change won’t it? Now that you know I’m Squishy, you won’t tell me about your day or how cute I am or how you were worried about me when I was asleep” Kyungsoo says quietly “I know you won’t because you didn’t. You only say those things to me when I’m an otter. Now that you know, you’ll stop.” 

“Now that I know, I’ll tell you directly in person” Jongin counters “I tend to... get attached to people? I didn’t want to scare you off so I didn’t talk about it but now that I know you like hearing it, I can.” 

“You’ll tell me all the same things?” Kyungsoo asks “even about your crush?”

“Oh um” Jongin fidgets “I-I can’t, you how hard it is for me.”

“See! This is why I didn’t want to tell you” Kyungsoo frowns “I liked being Squishy. Now I’m just Kyungsoo.” 

“That’s not a bad thing, being you is a really good thing” Jongin pouts “and the reason I can’t tell you about my crush is- uh. Remember how I said I had no intention of confessing?” 

“Yeah...” Kyungsoo says not seeing the connection. 

“Well if I told you-“ Jongin says looking scared and hurt “t-then you would know.”

“Yeah cause that’s how-“ Kyungsoo pauses “oh! Oh! Oh my god!”

Kyungsoo runs forward and crashes into Jongin before hugging him. 

“I like you too” Kyungsoo mumbles into the hug. 

“Really?” Jongin asks returning the hug. 

“Yeah, probably longer than you have” Kyungsoo laughs. 

“So you’re not rejecting me?” Jongin asks with a huge smile. 

“No one in their right mind would reject you so no, I’m not Jongin” Kyungsoo smiles. 

“We’re dating?” Jongin asks hopefully. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo laughs. 

“Why are you laughing?” Jongin pouts. 

“I’m having a flashback to my dream when I was knocked out by the potion” Kyungsoo answers honestly. 

“I was in it?” Jongin asks with bright eyes. 

“Yup” Kyungsoo nods happily. 

“How did it end?” Jongin asks with a smirk. 

“I think you know” Kyungsoo smiles before closing the distance. 

The end.


	2. Jongin

{Jongin's version}

Jongin is stirred from his sleep when he hears a scratching noise. He isn’t usually a light sleeper but this noise is particularly disruptive. He rubs his eyes sleepily and tries to see where the sound is coming from. As he wakes up a little more he realizes it’s coming from his bedside table. Not wanting to wake any of his roommates, Jongin tries to force his eyes to see in the darkness. He notices something moving and shortly after the distinct sound of a drawer opening catches his attention. Jongin acts fast, he knows that’s where his wand is and he can’t let anyone or anything get a hold of it. He’s not the most well-trained wizard so without his wand, he’d be useless. Jongin quickly grabs the wand and points at whatever the movement is before quickly saying _petrificus totalus_. Jongin uses his wand as a dim light to see what he’d hit with his spell. On the floor, he sees a mass of brown fur. 

“Sorry!” Jongin immediately says as he notices he’s stunned a poor little animal “You’ll be ok, it doesn’t last long- I’m talking to a fuzzy thing. Merlin’s beard, I’m tired.”

Still, the little creature makes a close-mouthed squeak, and Jongin’s heart clenches. He picks up the fuzzy animal noticing just how soft the creature is and pulls the animal on his bed. Once the animal is closer, Jongin realizes that in his lap is an otter. The otter is pretty small, and also seems to weigh about 5 or so pounds. Jongin’s no otter expert but he always thought they would be bigger. 

“I’m sorry for doing that but you shouldn’t dig around in people’s stuff” Jongin scolds even though the otter can’t understand “Why were you doing that... oh! You must be hungry! I know I keep some candy in there but shouldn’t you be looking for fish?”

The otter still can’t move but makes a little squeak nonetheless. 

“I guess if you’re really hungry, anything’s on the menu huh?” Jongin muses “How did you get into Hogwarts anyway? I didn’t think we had otters nearby. Although if I lived near the black lake, I’d try to crawl into Hogwarts too.”

The otter moves one paw slightly signifying the spell is starting to wear off.

“Listen, it’s night but I can still probably try to find a way to get you some food... might lose some house points for my troubles but anything to help out a little otter as cute as you” Jongin smiles and he could swear the otter smiles back, must be seeing things because of the low light.

Jongin continues to pet the little otter as he-she-they starts to regain control. 

“Hey, are you a girl or boy?” Jongin asks before reaching around the otter to check. 

The otter uses their limited control to thwart all attempts at checking the otter’s sex by kicking Jongin repeatedly. 

“Ow” Jongin laughs “Fine, I’ll just say you’re a boy. Not that it matters, you won’t know the difference. I should also give you a name... hmm... well you are quite squishy.”

Jongin pokes the otter’s squishy tummy with a smile and the otter lets out a cry of discomfort that makes Jongin pull back.

“Sorry!” Jongin says to the otter “No tummy pokes, but I will call you Squishy. I think it suits you. You’re cute and squishy so it’s perfect.”

The otter starts moving all his limbs and quickly rotates himself back onto his feet before running off Jongin’s bed and out the door before Jongin can even figure out what’s going on.

“Well bye then” Jongin huffs to himself. 

“Dude who are you talking to” Jongdae mumbles sleepily. 

“Just the- never mind” Jongin mumbles before putting out his light. 

“K, good night” Jongdae says clearly already falling back asleep.

~=+•+=~

“Get up!” Jongdae laughs while poking Jongin’s face “You’re harder to wake up than normal. Everyone else is already gone, they put me on Jongin wake up duty.”

“Mmmh no I don’t wanna” Jongin protests. 

“Alright your funeral but I don’t think Headmaster McGonagall will be pleased if you’re late for class,” Jongdae says walking away from class. 

“Did I miss breakfast again?” Jongin asks. 

“Not yet but you shouldn’t sleep through it, you need food to grow Jongin” Jongdae rolls his eyes. 

“More like you need it to grow” Jongin snickers. 

“Hey!” Jongdae says throwing one of his pillows at Jongin “I am normal height, leave me out of this!” 

“Yeah yeah, whatever, let's just go” Jongin says, stepping out of bed and immediately fixing his ridiculous bedhead. 

After brushing their teeth and getting dressed in their Hufflepuff robes, they join everyone at breakfast. Jongin and Jongdae sit down with some of their fellow classmates, an overly excitable Gryffindor (Baekhyun) and a rather calm Ravenclaw (Minseok). They make a bit of a weird group but they all get along really well. 

“Finally” Baekhyun says as the Hufflepuffs approach “Thought we weren’t gonna see you till class.”

“Someone was trying to sleep in again” Jongdae laughs sitting down “Probably cause he was sleep talking last night.”

“I wasn’t asleep” Jongin answers. 

“But you were talking” Jongdae points out. 

“Anyway” Baekhyun says trying to get the attention back on him “heard we’re getting new potions partners today.”

“What why?” Jongin asks “I like Chanyeol, he’s not a complete idiot but he doesn’t make me feel dumb either good middle ground.”

“Hope I get to snag Chanyeol” Baekhyun smirks “he’s hot.”

“He’s one of your roommates” Jongdae laughs “and close friends.”

“And?” Baekhyun asks. 

“Don’t take my potions partner” Jongin frowns. 

“He won’t have a choice” Minseok pipes in “They had issues with more than a few groups so Professor Slughorn is making the groups himself.”

“So he might leave me and Chanyeol alone?” Jongin smiles hopefully. 

“Nah, yall are loud” Jongdae laughs “He’ll probably give you both quieter people, maybe Minseok.”

“Sounds good to me” Jongin smiles.

Jongin’s friends keep talking about who they predict the partners will be but Jongin doesn’t know people outside their friend group well enough to pitch in. Instead, his mind wanders to the little otter, Squishy, from last night. At the time he hadn’t thought about it too much but otters can’t be pets, right? Jongin certainly didn’t see any when he was looking for his pet. He knows Chanyeol smuggled in a ferret though so maybe someone brought an otter too... but then Squishy wouldn’t have wandered into Jongin’s room. Squishy also didn’t have a tag or collar. 

“I can see smoke coming out of your ears” Baekhyun jokes “What are you thinking about.”

“Pets” Jongin answers simply “Minseok do you let Tan run free at night.”

“I don’t like to but she tends to run away. She’s very good at it” Minseok huffs “Guess I can’t blame her. I wouldn’t like to stay in the dormitory all day and night either.”

“Hmm” Jongin pauses. 

“Thinking of getting something better than your dumb toad?” Baekhyun asks. 

“Minnie isn’t dumb! Well actually she’s a little slow but she’s a good toad. Hardly bites me” Jongin pouts. 

“At least she doesn’t have teeth” Minseok smiles “Anyway, time for class guys.”

The rest of the morning is rather boring in Jongin’s opinion. He doesn’t see Squishy anywhere, not that he expected to. It’s daytime and if the otter didn’t want to get caught, hiding during the day is probably the way to go. The only thing that mildly interests Jongin is potions class. When he, and all his classmates, enter the class they are in fact informed that their potions partners will be changed. 

“To make this simple, I’ll just put the list upfront and you may all consult it before making your way to your partners. I’ll give you a few minutes to make your introductions but then we’ll dive into the course material.” Slughorn says to the class before putting a sheet on the front desk. 

Jongin doesn’t see the point in fighting his way to the front of the line so he just waits patiently to see who he's paired up with. As he waits though, Chanyeol passes him on the way to the cauldrons. 

“Sucks we’re not together anymore but we can still study together and stuff yeah?” Chanyeol says. 

“I mean we have a mutual close friend so I don’t see why we can’t stay friends” Jongin smiles at his ex-partner. 

“Great” Chanyeol beams before walking away. 

Well, now he knows he’s for sure getting a new partner. Jongin sighs as he waits for the line to advance. Finally, it’s his turn to check the sheet. Kyungsoo Do. Well, Jongdae was right about pairing him with a quiet guy. Jongin’s not sure he’s heard Kyungsoo speak all year. He answered questions in care of magical creatures in 4th year but none of their other shared classes. Jongin walks up to Kyungsoo with a smile, he’s going to make a good impression. They might not have really spoken before now but Jongin won’t let that stop him from befriending his new partner. 

The Ravenclaw doesn’t seem so thrilled to see Jongin approaching him though. His large round eyes expand wider than they were before. His lips part ever so slightly in shock. He fixes his round black thick-rimmed glasses before looking away from Jongin. It’s kinda... cute. 

“Hi” Jongin says with a smile before extending his hand “looks like we’re partners.”

“Right” Kyungsoo says before running his hand through his very soft-looking brown hair. Jongin forgot how deep his voice is but it’s even deeper than Chanyeol’s and Jongin’s brain is trying to catch up “Uh- you should know I’m not great at potions.”

“A Ravenclaw who’s not good at school, huh?” Jongin teases trying to break the ice. 

“We aren’t all perfect in every class” Kyungsoo mumbles. 

“That’s fine, I’m not great at it either” Jongin laughs “I’ve seen you a lot but we’ve never formally met. You’re one of Chanyeol’s friends right?”

“Yeah Chanyeol, also Sehun he’s a Slytherin.” Kyungsoo answers. 

“Bet you were jealous I stole one of your best friends for potions” Jongin smiles. 

“Never, Chanyeol’s so clumsy I’d be scared to test any potion he made” Kyungsoo chuckles, and wow even his chuckle is deep. It feels almost comforting. 

“I made him do it every time” Jongin admits with a giggle. 

“I know, after he had the invigorating potion he wouldn’t stop talking all night. Luckily, we’re in different houses so I just ran to my room” Kyungsoo says with somewhat of a whiny tone. 

“Baekhyun told me about that too” Jongin smiles “I was kind of worried about switching partners but I’m really happy it’s you.”

“O-oh” Kyungsoo blushes “Yeah I guess I’m relieved too.”

Jongin wants to correct that he’s not just relieved, he’s glad but Slughorn starts teaching and they have to pay attention. 

~=+•+=~

After dinner, Jongin devises a plan to lure the otter. During supper he secretly steals some of the fish they’re serving and keeps it for later. Once everyone has gone to bed, Jongin sneaks out of his room and just sits outside his door. He places the fish pieces he has on the ground and uses a simple warming charm to make the smell more intense and inviting to any otter that might be running around. He sits there for a while, eventually falling asleep against the door but he wakes up when he feels something crawl up his body and make various adorable squeaks near Jongin’s face.

“Squishy” Jongin smiles at the otter “You are Squishy, right?”

Squishy of course doesn’t answer but he does race back down Jongin’s body and eats the fish on the ground. Jongin coos at the otter, seems like Squishy is very pleased with the food in front of him because he’s making little happy noises as he chomps on the fish. 

“From now on you should come to see me at night ok Squishy?” Jongin says even though he knows he won’t be understood “Someone needs to feed you and I’m worried what would happen to you if you wander back outside. I heard there’s a hippogriff loose and they like ferrets, you’re kind of like a ferret.”

Squishy imminently stops eating and stare at Jongin before making an upset sound. 

“Wait can you understand me?” Jongin asks but Squishy just goes back to eating “I’m pretty sure you can. If you’re not a pet and you can understand me then you must be magical somehow.”

Squishy finishes the fish and quickly presses himself into Jongin’s hand before making a high pitched whining sound.

“You like pets?” Jongin asks before petting the otter’s face “I guess you do.”

Jongin continues to pet Squishy who very quickly crawls up Jongin for more snuggling. 

“While I pet you I can tell you about my day” Jongin says “Would you like that?”

Squishy just continues to relish the affection Jongin is giving him so he figures he should go ahead and do it.

“I didn’t tell my friends about you” Jongin starts “I could have but since I don’t think you’re really allowed to be here, I wanted to keep it just between us. I might tell them eventually though, they’re good at keeping secrets. At least from the teachers. School was boring, you’re lucky you don’t have school. The only interesting thing was switching partners in potions.”

Squishy stops moving so much at the mention of potions. 

“Do you not like that word? Ok well I’ll just call it class then” Jongin says before continuing “Anyway, I used to have a great partner, Chanyeol. He’s cool and we get along well but I guess we’re a bit too loud. He’s with my other friend Minseok now, anyway, I’m with this guy named Kyungsoo. He’s kinda shy but I guess I am too sometimes. I think it’ll work out well. I don’t really know him but I don’t know... he seems nice. Maybe not as... lively as I’m used to but that’s ok. You’re plenty lively! I think you two would balance each other out. Maybe he could adopt you. I would but I already have a toad, Minnie, and I’m pretty sure you’d try to eat her.”

Squishy seems displeased with the idea of Minnie, squirming uncomfortably. 

“If you’re pretending you don’t understand me, you’re not doing a great job” Jongin laughs “Then again I’m not entirely convinced you to understand English... ok you’re doing a decent job.”

Squishy chirps at Jongin, seemingly at the loss of petting. 

“Ok ok!” Jongin laughs “Man you really like affection.”

Jongin picks up squishy by the shoulder and brings him close before kissing the otter’s forehead. Squishy immediately starts to squirm in his hold and Jongin lets him go. Just like before Squishy runs away quickly although now that Jongin has a better chance at seeing it, Squishy isn’t all that fast, he kinda has trouble running and it’s cute. 

“Bye Squishy!” Jongin smiles before going back into his room. 

~=+•+=~

During Jongin’s time off he decides to head to the library and take out a book on otters. Also a book on magical creatures. He really wants to know what Squishy is exactly, the little otter is quickly worming his way into Jongin’s heart so he’d like more information about him. 

While reading through the book on otters, Jongin learns that Squishy is most likely an Asian small-clawed otter due to his size and temperament. Which just makes Jongin more confused because like the name implies, they don’t live in the UK. The book also says they’re one of the more common species to be kept as pets which could be how one ended up near Hogwarts but that would mean a student brought Squishy here. Why is he running around the castle then? 

Jongin turns to the magical creatures book in hopes for more answers. However, in the entire book, there’s no mention of any type of magical otter so Jongin’s back to being confused. What is up with Squishy?

“Hey” Minseok says, sitting down beside Jongin “don’t see you here often.” 

“Doing some research” Jongin answers before closing the useless book. 

“On... otters?” Minseok asks. 

“If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to tell anymore?” Jongin asks. 

“Of course” Minseok smiles. 

“There’s an otter in the castle” Jongin answers “I think someone smuggled him in but they might not be taking care of him anymore.”

“So why the book on magical creatures then?” Minseok asks. 

“Uhh well, I sorta thought maybe he was a magical otter? It seemed like he could understand me” Jongin answers “he reacted to certain words.”

“If I say fish around Tan she freaks out” Minseok smiles “sounds like the otter just picked up a few words.” 

“No, Squishy seemed disgusted when I said he would eat Minnie” Jongin argues “I don’t think he’d just know the word toad and know I meant he’d eat one.” 

“When do you see... Squishy?” Minseok says repeating the name Jongin used. 

“At night” Jongin answers “I wait outside my door and he usually shows up.” 

“First of all, you shouldn’t do that. No wonder you’ve been so tired this whole week. Second of all, if you meet him at night your imagination might be playing into it. Especially since you’re sleep deprived.” Minseok answers “since it’s the weekend, maybe just look for him around the castle. I’m sure he has a hiding spot for the day, try to find him.”

“You make good points” Jongin nods “I’ll go find him.” 

Jongin puts the books back and leaves the library. He walks around all the more secluded areas of the castle while calling his little otter friend. So far he hasn’t seen any sign of the otter. He did find a few cats though, students should be more careful about letting them roam. 

“Squishy” Jongin sings quietly “I can pet you now!” 

Jongin looks away from all the little places he thought Squishy might hide in and looks up only to come face to face with Kyungsoo. Once again, Kyungsoo looks shocked, this time probably because he thinks Jongin lost a pet. 

“Kyungsoo” Jongin says awkwardly “I’m uh- looking for my toad.”

“Your toad’s name is Minnie” Kyungsoo quickly answers and Jongin doesn’t even register the fact that he’s never told Kyungsoo that. 

“Oh uh yeah but she’s squishy so I also call her Squishy” Jongin laughs “Um she’s a small greenish toad. If you see her she uh likes being rubbed behind her head. Oh and give her back to me.” 

“Right ok I’ll keep an eye out” Kyungsoo nods before walking away quickly. 

Jongin sighs at his bad lying skills. Hopefully, he hasn’t made Kyungsoo think he’s incapable of taking care of a small toad. He is! It’s not like it’s hard, just feed her insects, clean her enclosure, and don’t let her run away. She’s a very happy toad and not lost. 

“Squishy” Jongin says again “please come out! I don’t have any fish but we can play!”

Jongin keeps looking around before he hears the distinctive squeak that he’s used to hearing from Squishy. 

“Squishy! You came!” Jongin smiles before looking around for any other wandering students “I can see you better in the light!”

Jongin smiles at the little otter and notices details he couldn’t see before. The otter seems to have darker fur around his eyes that almost look like eyebrows, it’s really cute. 

“Ok let’s hide outside. I know a secret spot.” Jongin says to the otter. 

Jongin walks towards the nearest exit while looking back to make sure Squishy is following. 

“Actually you know what, I’ll hide you in my robe so no one will see you” Jongin says before picking up Squishy and tucking him under his arm and covering him with the robe.

He was expecting more of a struggle from Squishy but he seems totally ok with it. On his way to the secret place outside though, a door appears on the wall near Jongin. 

“No way!” Jongin smiles “Oh my god I read about this! It’s the- whatever the come and go room! Baekhyun swears it appeared for him when he had to pee but I call bullshit cause that is literally a quote from dumbledore in the book I read.” 

Jongin opens the door and walks in. In the room, there are two smallish pools. One double the size of a hot tub and another that’s essentially the same size as a kiddy pool. Between them is a small water slide, perfectly sized for an otter. 

“Oh my god it’s perfect! We can play here!” Jongin yells excitedly before putting Squishy down “there’s even towels! And some swim trunks!”

Jongin immediately throws his robes on the ground and starts unbuttoning his shirt before he looks over at Squishy on the ground who’s just looking right back up at him. 

“Ok well I know you’re an otter but this still feels weird” Jongin says before picking up Squishy “how about you play in the pool while I get changed, and don’t look!”

Jongin places Squishy in the bigger pool and he immediately glides in. At the bottom of the pool, there seem to be some rocks and toys that Squishy picks up. Feeling less weird now that he knows Squishy won’t be watching, Jongin quickly gets changed and joins Squishy in the pool. Squishy drops the rock he was holding and swims up to see Jongin. Jongin smiles at the otter. 

“I look different now right?” Jongin laughs “I wonder if you’ve ever seen a human who’s not wearing robes.” 

Squishy seems intrigued by Jongin and swims up before putting a paw, or hand? Jongin’s not sure what to call it, on Jongin’s chest.

“Yeah, I have skin” Jongin laughs. 

Squishy pulls away and starts playing again. He seems to love the slide, going up and down the slide many times. Jongin can’t get over how cute Squishy is when he runs back up. His little legs aren’t quite suited for running, especially not up a slope but Jongin just can’t get over how adorable the sight is. They play for another hour until Jongin and Squishy get a little tired. With the towels provided, Jongin dries himself and Squishy. 

“Stay” Jongin says, dropping the towel on Squishy’s head, who seems to listen and doesn’t move. 

Jongin changes back into his robes and leaves the room with Squishy. 

“Hope it’ll show up again, that was fun” Jongin smiles. Squishy’s chirps seem to indicate he agrees. 

~=+•+=~

“You need to be careful with the powdered porcupine quills” Kyungsoo says as Jongin mixes the ingredient in “if you add too much instead of calming whoever drinks the potion, you’ll end up putting them to sleep. Maybe forever.”

“I thought you were bad at this” Jongin smiles. 

“I like learning things” Kyungsoo says shyly “doesn’t mean I would add the right amount.” 

“Three shakes is good, right?” Jongin asks adding a third “that should be enough. I’d rather a potion that barely makes people calm than one that turns them into sleeping beauty.” 

“I don’t think a kiss would wake you from the potion though” Kyungsoo mumbles. 

“Be worth a try though” Jongin smiles before looking at Kyungsoo's face which has turned bright red “if I fall asleep, feel free to wake me with a kiss!” 

“S-sure” Kyungsoo sputters but his tone contradicts his answers “but it wouldn’t work. You’d stay asleep.”

“I won’t drink it if you don’t want me to.” Jongin answers more seriously. 

“No it should be fine, Professor Slughorn will tell us if we did it right anyway.” Kyungsoo says taking a deep breath “ok now we just need to turn it clockwise and counterclockwise 7 times.” 

“Does that mean 7 times of each?” Jongin asks “which do we start with?” 

“This book sucks” Kyungsoo sighs. 

“No kidding” Jongin says before handing the spoon to Kyungsoo “you want to do the honours.”

“After an hour and a half of doing this stupid potion, I really need it” Kyungsoo sighs before he starts stirring. 

“Me too, especially because I’ve been missing out on some sleep” Jongin says as he watches Kyungsoo work. 

“Do you have trouble sleeping?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“No it’s- I just stay up too late” Jongin answers. 

“So do I” Kyungsoo smiles before stirring in the other direction 7 times “there, should be done.” 

“Actually there’s more on the next page” Jongin says showing it to Kyungsoo “7 drops of hellebore needs to be added now, flames should be deceased and then we leave it for 7 minutes.” 

“I’ve made food more complicated” Kyungsoo shrugs before adding the syrup. 

Jongin decreases the flames before turning back to Kyungsoo. 

“You like cooking?” Jongin asks. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo smiles brightly. Jongin loves that heart-shaped smile. It’s so unique, so Kyungsoo. Just like his thick eyebrows and round eyes. Everything about him is so... him... and oddly familiar “I’m- well my parents aren’t uh witches? I’m muggle-born.” 

“You have two moms?” Jongin asks. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo smiles appreciating that Jongin just seems interested “technically I’m only blood-related to one of them so I guess I could be a half-blood but at home, there’s no magic. So I cook a lot. Both of my moms like cooking so they taught me too. It’s really fun.” 

“I’m not good at it” Jongin admits “I wish I was but here and even at home, people make my food for me. Except toast and some other things I make but nothing special.” 

“I could teach you” Kyungsoo offers “I mean- not here but maybe during the summer?” 

“That sounds really fun” Jongin smiles. 

“Well done you two” Slughorn says approaching the cauldron “the silver vapour means you brewed it correctly. Do it exactly like this for your OWLs and you’ll be getting an O.” 

“Thank you” Jongin and Kyungsoo say in unison. 

“I can imagine you’ll want to drink some now? It’s been a long class” Slughorn smiles. 

“I’ll drink it” Jongin smiles. 

He puts a small amount in a vial before downing it in one shot. The taste is quite nice, much better than most potions. It tastes like warm herbal tea almost. If tea tasted like what glitter looks like and what rain sounds like. 

“Jongin?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Hi” Jongin smiles back at Kyungsoo “I feel like it’s summer or something. So peaceful.” 

“Then it works perfectly” Slughorn smiles before walking away. 

“Ah!” Someone screams from beside Kyungsoo and Jongin. 

It appears as though Chanyeol and Minseok’s potion has somehow exploded and set Chanyeol’s robes on fire. Chanyeol seems to be drawn to fire, all of his potions that backfire set him on fire for some reason, yet he doesn’t get burnt. Jongin got singed a few times just from being near. 

Slughorn quickly puts out the fire and no one is hurt. 

“I’m glad that didn’t happen to us” Kyungsoo says, looking extremely stressed out and Jongin frowns. 

“You should drink some” Jongin says. 

“What?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Drink some of the draught of peace, you look stressed” Jongin says before nudging Kyungsoo. 

“There was just a fire, of course, I’m stressed” Kyungsoo says before looking at the white liquid “but yeah ok, why not.” 

Kyungsoo does just what Jongin did, putting some in a vile and drinking it in one shot. 

“It’s nice right?” Jongin smiles. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo says blinking a few times “I think I’m just gonna-“ 

Kyungsoo doesn’t finish his sentence before he’s falling. Jongin catches him before he hits the ground. The potion holds him back from feeling anxious and stressed which is weird because his brain wants to freak out. 

“Professor! Kyungsoo fell!” Jongin yells. 

Slughorn walks over and sees Kyungsoo asleep in Jongin’s arms. 

“Oh my” Slughorn says “ok take him straight to the hospital wing. You’re both excused from any other classes today.” 

Jongin nods and throws Kyungsoo over his shoulder to bring him straight to the hospital wing. The potion starts to wear off, most likely Jongin’s immense stress is causing it to wear off faster, and Jongin starts to feel the panic he naturally would. 

“What happened?” A nurse asks, while helping Jongin put Kyungsoo on a bed. 

“He drank the draught of peace we brewed” Jongin explains “but I did too and I’m ok!” 

“Ah” the nurse says looking down at Kyungsoo “some potions can affect certain wizards differently. Since the potion was clearly brewed correctly I imagine he’ll be waking up soon. I’ll go get some smelling salts to induce a quicker reaction.”

Jongin nods and stays by Kyungsoo’s side. Even though they brewed the potion (successfully) together, Jongin feels like it’s his fault. He was the one who told Kyungsoo to drink after all. 

The nurse comes back with the salts to wake him and waves them under his nose but Kyungsoo barely stirs. 

“It’s quite unfortunate that it didn't work” The nurse says with a sigh “still, I don’t expect him to sleep for much longer. One day maximum. You may stay with him for as long as you see fit although I expect not all your professors will be understanding.” 

“I’ll stay till night at least” Jongin nods. 

Jongin still feels like he’s entirely to blame and with his own potion wearing off he’s feeling more and more of his negative feelings. He sits and waits for Kyungsoo to wake up but he doesn’t. After half an hour of waiting, Jongin starts to talk just to stop his thoughts. 

“You know” Jongin says to Kyungsoo’s unconscious body “I once slept for 24 hours. I’m quite proud of that actually. I didn’t have to use a potion like you are, really you’re cheating.” 

Jongin almost expects a witty response but of course, that’s not going to happen. 

“Anyway, I bet you won’t sleep that long. Nurse says that’s the maximum amount of time” Jongin continues “it might seem weird for me to talk to you when I know you won’t answer me but truth is I do that a lot normally anyway. There’s this... friend I have. And he can’t answer me for reasons that don’t matter. So I’m used to talking a lot. It’s kind of nice honestly because I don’t have to worry about how he’ll respond. I can just talk and he listens.” 

Jongin pauses to hold Kyungsoo’s hand. 

“Then again, he can sort of answer. Not with words but- I prefer it to this” Jongin sighs “I’ll stay here and wait till you wake up though. It’s not like it’s been long anyway. Half an hour. I took a longer nap between my classes today.” 

Kyungsoo continues to lay still. 

“Is it weird I wish my friend was here? The one I was talking about” Jongin says “I don’t know, I guess he always cheers me up. He’s really excitable, really fun and cuddly. I feel like I’m describing Baekhyun! But no, my friend isn’t actually like Baekhyun. My friend is a lot cuter... not like that! He’s like- like a baby. You’re kinda cute too.”

Jongin reaches out to touch Kyungsoo’s sleeping face, his skin feels soft. Softer than Jongin’s face for sure. 

“You guys have a lot in common actually. You’re calmer but that sort of makes sense” Jongin smiles “but there’s just something similar between you two. Which is weird because if you were going to be an animal I’d say you’d be a penguin or an owl. Not that my friend is a- never mind.” 

Jongin continues to wait beside Kyungsoo as he slowly drifts asleep himself. 

“Kyungsoo!” A voice yells startling Jongin from his nap. 

Kyungsoo doesn’t wake from his sleep though. 

“We came as soon as classes were over!” Chanyeol yells as he walks up to Kyungsoo. 

“Stupid teacher wouldn’t let us skip. Slughorn covered for you though” Sehun sighs as he walks up. 

“Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol says obviously trying to wake his friend “I’ll tell Jongin all your deepest darkest secrets if you don’t wake up!”

“The nurse tried smelling salts and it didn’t work. I don’t think threats will” Jongin smiles slightly. 

“Pretty big threat though” Sehun says “we know a lot of secrets.” 

Jongin holds himself back from asking what they are, obviously, it’s none of his business but he’s always been curious by nature. Sehun walks up and pinches Kyungsoo’s ear. 

“Always wanted to do that” Sehun chuckles. 

“Dude!” Chanyeol says hitting Sehun. 

“What! It’s karma! He always does that to me!” Sehun defends. 

“He’s in a hospital!” Chanyeol yells. 

“Yeah and pinching him could wake him up!” Sehun frowns.

“Oh good point” Chanyeol nods “anyway, thank you for waiting with him but we can take it from here. I know your friends missed you. Baekhyun wouldn’t shut up. You should go have supper.” 

“What about you two?” Jongin asks. 

“We’ll grab some hospital food” Chanyeol smiles. 

“Alright” Jongin nods before walking away. 

Throughout the dinner, Jongin just can’t help but feel like he’s the one to blame for this. Even though the nurse said he’d wake up in less than a day, Jongin is worried she’s wrong. Sleeping isn’t so bad, right? Kyungsoo said he was staying up late so now’s his chance to catch up on some sleep. 

“Jongin, he’ll be ok” Minseok says, putting a hand on Jongin’s arm. 

“Yeah, yeah I know” Jongin nods but it’s clear he’s lying. 

“You know maybe tonight would be a good night for you to stay up if you know what I mean” Minseok whispers so none of their other friends hear “I think you could use the comfort.” 

“Thanks” Jongin smiles. 

“What are you whispering about?” Jongdae asks, interrupting them. 

“Yeah! No secrets!” Baekhyun yells. 

“He's just sad about Kyungsoo” Minseok answers. 

“Awww Nini” Baekhyun pouts “Jongdae you should cuddle with him tonight so he can fall asleep ok.” 

“Our beds are small enough as is!” Jongdae frowns “there won’t be enough space.” 

“Well do something!” Baekhyun argues.

“Guys it’s fine” Jongin interrupts them “he’ll wake up soon and this will all be over.” 

That night Jongin has trouble sleeping, not that he wasn’t going to stay up and wait for Squishy but he thought he could take a nap first. He can’t though, not while Kyungsoo is still in deep sleep. So Jongin decides to get up and wait for Squishy earlier than usual. Jongin tries to get out of his room as quietly as possible but the floorboards creak. He cringes at the sound and looks at his roommates. Jongdae is sitting up in his bed and looking at him but he just smiles and puts his head back on his pillow. 

Once Jongin is out he sits at the door and waits. He waits for a very long time with little to no entertainment. He keeps checking his timepiece and continues to wait. Normally if Squishy is this late, Jongin would go back inside and get to sleep but he can’t sleep tonight anyway. Instead, he continues to wait for his furry friend in hopes his squeaks will cheer Jongin up from the awful mood he’s in. 

But Squishy doesn’t come. At almost 4 am, Jongin gives up hope but there’s no way he’ll be able to fall asleep so instead he sneakily walks towards the hospital wing. If he can’t sleep, he might as well be watching over Kyungsoo. Maybe he’s awake now! 

Jongin walks in carefully but obviously, he’s quickly caught by the nurse watching over the patients. 

“Care to explain yourself?” She asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“I can’t sleep” Jongin admits “not while I know Kyungsoo can’t wake up because of me. Please just let me sit beside him! I napped earlier while I was here, maybe I can sleep if I know I’m here for when he wakes up.” 

“You know it’s against the rules” She says and Jongin bows his head in defeat. Not only will he be reprimanded but now he knows Kyungsoo hasn’t woken up “but I’ll allow it. For the sake of your health.” 

“Thank you” Jongin smiles brightly. 

Jongin walks over to a sleeping Kyungsoo and sits on the nearby chair. 

“Still asleep huh?” Jongin says quietly “wish I could steal some cause I’m having trouble sleeping now.” 

Jongin reaches out for Kyungsoo’s hand, it’s so soft just like his face was. 

“My friend didn’t show up either” Jongin frowns “I’m having an awful day. Probably not as bad as yours, although you’re asleep so you’re probably feeling fine. Anyway, I don’t have much to say, I just wanted to be here.” 

Jongin lets go of Kyungsoo’s hand. He looks up at Kyungsoo’s peaceful face and down at his plush heart-shaped lips. Jongin’s face flushes red just thinking about it. 

“That was a joke though right?” Jongin asks a sleeping Kyungsoo “the whole sleeping beauty thing... just a joke. I shouldn’t even think about it.” 

Kyungsoo stays unmoving in his bed, totally at peace while Jongin freaks out over his own imagination. 

“Maybe just on your forehead- that’s fine right? Then eventually when you wake up, I’ll tell you and we can laugh about it” Jongin says with a small amount of confidence “and I’ll go to sleep right after so the nurse won’t get mad.”

Jongin gets up from his chair and lightly kisses Kyungsoo’s forehead. His heart beating wildly while he does it. He’s not sure why he’s reacting so much, maybe because it’s late and he’s so tired. 

“Now I can tell you that I tried it and you were right” Jongin smiles down at Kyungsoo “although I never meant a forehead kiss- no, no. I can’t, that would be wrong. Ignore me! I’m going to sleep now!” 

Jongin forcefully throws himself back in his chair making a loud screech sound when he lands. Jongin tries to calm his stupid heart down so he can sleep like he said he would. He tucks his knees up and puts his head between them like muggles do if a plane is going to crash. Does help him calm down a bit though. 

“Why is it dark?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Kyungsoo! You’re awake!” Jongin yells. 

“How long?” Kyungsoo asks as he blinks and rubs his eyes. 

“It’s 4 am now” Jongin answers “so... 15 hours, still didn’t beat my record of 24 hours.”

“I’ve slept 16 hours before” Kyungsoo answers as he starts to sit up. 

“You were wrong about the kiss, it worked. I should have done it a while ago” Jongin laughs. 

“What” Kyungsoo says with horror as he whips his head to Jongin. 

“F-forehead- I kissed your forehead! Just that! But you woke up after so-“ Jongin says as he starts to panic. 

“Oh! T-thanks then” Kyungsoo says, biting his lips. 

“I’m really glad you’re awake now. I felt so bad” Jongin says looking down. 

“It wasn’t your fault” Kyungsoo quickly dismisses “and it wasn’t so bad, just took a long nap. I had nice dreams too.” 

“What were they?” Jongin asks. 

“I-I” Kyungsoo pauses “I forget but they were nice.” 

“Hate when that happens” Jongin smiles. 

“Jongin, would you mind escorting Kyungsoo to his dormitory before returning to your own” The nurse says walking up to them “I trust you’ll be able to sleep now that you know he’s ok.”

“Uh” Jongin blushes, she didn’t have to tell Kyungsoo that “yeah for sure.” 

“Alright let’s go” Kyungsoo says before getting out of the bed. 

The pair walk out of the hospital and towards the Ravenclaw dormitory. 

“Thanks for waiting with me” Kyungsoo says, breaking their silence. 

“I wanted to” Jongin admits “like the nurse said I just had trouble sleeping.” 

“Now that _you_ woke me up everything’s fine though” Kyungsoo smiles.

“I don’t think the kiss actually worked” Jongin laughs “it was just good timing.” 

“Why did you do it?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“I thought you’d be ok with it” Jongin says unsure. 

“I am” Kyungsoo nods “I just want to know why you decided to do it.” 

“We joked about it so I don’t know I figured you’d find it funny? It seems stupid now...” Jongin lets out a sigh. 

“It wasn’t stupid” Kyungsoo shakes his head he stops walking and Jongin does too before looking at him “this is close enough, I don’t want you hearing the password.” 

“Oh right” Jongin laughs. 

“Get some sleep ok?” Kyungsoo says before grabbing Jongin’s head and pulling it down a bit to kiss his forehead “there. Since yours woke me up, mine should put you to sleep.” 

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything else as he turns around and walks straight for his dormitory. Jongin stands there frozen in place before it fully sinks in. He smiles a bit and heads back to his room. 

~=+•+=~

The next morning Jongin seems to connect the dots and understands that he’s developing a crush on his quiet potions partner. It takes a whole one hour for all of his friends to catch on after he does. 

When Kyungsoo walks into the dining hall for breakfast, Jongin watches him carefully. The way he searches for his friends with his eyes wide open, the way his lips stretch into a smile and eyes disappear when he sees them. Jongin is entranced. He doesn’t look back at Jongin, probably because he’s so occupied by his friends who are getting up to welcome him. They all look overjoyed to have breakfast together. 

“Kyungsoo’s awake! Why didn’t you say that sooner?” Baekhyun asks looking at Jongin “you must be happy.” 

“Dude snuck out last night just to see him” Jongdae laughs. 

“Really?” Minseok asks, looking at him knowingly. 

“Yeah I did” Jongin nods to Minseok to make it clear that he’s not lying “I was there when he woke up actually.” 

“Wow! When was that?” Baekhyun asks. 

“4 in the morning” Jongin answers. 

“Did you sleep at all?” Baekhyun laughs. 

“I did after he went to his room” Jongin smiles while blushing. 

“What happened?” Jongdae asks with a smirk. 

“What? Nothing!” Jongin says defensively. 

“Aww, you have a crush!” Baekhyun smiles “no wonder you were so broken up about him being asleep.” 

“I was upset because I was the one who told him to drink it” Jongin frowns. 

“Whatever, point is Nini has a crush!” Baekhyun yells. 

“Shhh, not so loud!” Jongin says, deepening his frown. 

“That’s so cute Nini” Jongdae joins in. 

“He's just really nice and fun to be around. And soft. His face is so soft” Jongin says mostly to himself. 

“His face is soft?” Minseok asks. 

“He was sleeping! He looked peaceful so I don’t know I just- I also kissed his forehead but he said it was ok” Jongin admits “he kissed me back, on the forehead.” 

“You two are gonna make a disgustingly cute couple” Baekhyun laughs. 

“No, we won’t cause I’m a wimp and I’ll never ask him out. I’ll probably ruin everything we have now too.” Jongin frowns.

“No need to be so pessimistic Nini, it’ll work out for you two, I know it” Jongdae smiles. 

“Thanks, Jongdae” Jongin smiles. 

~=+•+=~

“That’s it for today's class” Professor Slughorn concludes “Remember, we’ll be practicing the production of strengthening solution next week so study up. It’s a tricky potion and we’ll be doing it in two parts but it’s difficult even with the break in between.”

“You know, I think you lied about being bad at potions” Jongin laughs before turning his attention from the professor to Kyungsoo. 

The second Jongin looks at Kyungsoo, he chokes up. It’s the weirdest thing, as long as he doesn’t look at Kyungsoo he can act normally but once he sees him, he loses the ability to control his emotions. 

“I’m not a prodigy or anything” Kyungsoo says quickly “Just- ok it might be one of my top classes. I just didn’t want to intimidate you.”

“No- Yeah well I think it’s a uh good thing! Having a smart partner” Jongin says before sighing internally, he needs to stop this and be normal again or he’ll scare Kyungsoo. 

“Maybe we should meet up, to study that strengthening solution.” Kyungsoo suggests. 

“Yes! That is a great idea! Not Saturday, I’m busy Saturday- I’m um” Jongin tries to think of a lie, really he tries to find Squishy and together they find the room of requisition for fun swims “I have a thing with my friends.”

“Sunday then?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Sounds good” Jongin nods. 

“We can meet in the library” Kyungsoo adds “Ok well I better get to my next class.”

“Yeah, me too” Jongin says, grabbing his stuff. 

Once Kyungsoo walks away, he’s attacked by all three of his friends. 

“Jongin you’re blushing a whole lot” Jongdae smiles. 

“What?” Jongin asks, touching his face, it feels warm “Whatever.”

“Did he ask you out? It sounded like he asked you out” Minseok asks excitedly. 

“We’re just going to read about the potion. You should all do it too” Jongin says as if he’s not considering it a study date. 

“Cause you’re such a great student” Baekhyun laughs “No need to hide! We’re all happy for you!”

“We’re going to meet in the library on Sunday” Jongin smiles. 

“That’s great!” Jongdae smiles back. 

“Thanks, guys” Jongin says, smiling even wider “Ok, let’s get to class.”

That night, Jongin sits outside of his door, like usual waiting for Squishy to come. Jongin’s excited to talk to him today. He’s been taking a break from talking to Squishy for a little while, Minseok told him to and he agrees. He told Squishy, so if the little otter _does_ understand English, hopefully, he didn’t come looking for Jongin. Tonight he’s staying up though. 

“Squishy!” Jongin smiles as the otter approaches “I’m so glad you came! I hope you weren’t too lonely without me!”

The otter just climbs onto Jongin’s legs while making his regular squeaks, demanding attention. 

“I’ve really missed you but I guess I need sleep too” Jongin laughs “A lot has happened since we last met. Well really it happened a little while ago but I haven’t talked about it yet. I was scared to talk about it, is that weird? I tell you everything but this... I don’t know. It’s hard to talk about I guess.”

Squishy moves away from Jongin’s hand and looks at his face. Maybe he understands the words, maybe he just senses Jongin’s slight unease. 

“It’s nothing bad! Just... mmmh. Maybe a little embarrassing? I feel vulnerable talking about it” Jongin says while petting Squishy “I have a crush.”

Squishy stops moving entirely at the word. Almost frozen like the first night he met Squishy. 

“It’s not a bad thing Squishy, I know the word itself is a little scary sounding but it’s a happy thing” Jongin smiles down “It means there’s a person who makes my heart beat a little harder- well that doesn’t sound so nice. A person who makes me smile, someone I’d like to hold and cuddle with. Share all my secrets and trust them. Like what I do with you, except not because you’re an otter.”

Squishy still doesn’t seem to be acting normal. He’s just curled up along Jongin’s arm, placing his face into the crook of Jongin’s arm. 

“I probably won’t do anything about it though” Jongin laughs “I’m not courageous, no wonder I’m not a Gryffindor. I’ll probably just keep staring and hoping, I’m not good at talking around my crushes. Actually, I usually avoid talking to them completely because I’m so scared of messing up. So don’t even worry about cheering me up after rejection, I won’t get that far.”

Squishy pulls his face out of Jongin’s arm and looks up at Jongin. Quickly, Squishy crawls up Jongin’s arm until he’s very close to Jongin’s face. 

“What?” Jongin asks, confused at Squishy’s behaviour. 

Squishy puts his little hand on Jongin’s cheek and pulls it back. It’s shimmering in the low light of the hallway. 

“Oh” Jongin says, realizing what Squishy is looking at “I didn’t realize I had teared up. Don’t worry though, it’s just late. I tear up when I yawn too.”

Jongin yawns just thinking of the word and Squishy seems to as well, it’s cute, Jongin didn’t know otters yawned. 

“I’ve never had a crush work out for me” Jongin admits “That’s why I’m a little, tiny bit, upset. I just don’t want that to happen again. Last time I had a crush it was on this really pretty Slytherin girl. She had golden blond hair and full rosy cheeks that looked just so adorable when she smiled. She always looked so happy? And beautiful, she was stunning. I would think she wasn’t entirely human because of how beautiful she was but I know that’s not true. She was a couple years older so she’s not at school anymore. I used to see her around the castle a lot though, always made me smile until one day I saw her making out with her boyfriend. I was... heartbroken. I might not get outright rejected but I don’t want something like that to happen again.”

Squishy makes some little whining sounds and Jongin smiles at him.

“Sorry for telling you all this, I guess I’m in a bit of a mood” Jongin laughs a little “Would you rather I just pet you and tell you how you’re my favourite otter in the whole world.”

Squishy seems happy with that answer. 

~=+•+=~

“Alright class, pay attention. You won’t pass your OWLs if you’re doodling in your book, _Chanyeol_ ” Professor Binns says glaring at Chanyeol “I know kids nowadays don’t appreciate history but this is important.”

“He literally is history” Baekhyun scoffs to his deskmate, Jongin “Still can’t believe the only magical history teacher is a ghost.”

“It kind of makes sense though, he’s seen it all first hand.” Jongin adds while noting what the professor writes on the board. 

“And of course this was the work of...” The professor pauses to look at the class “No? Nothing? It’s the work of an animagus! Come on that wasn’t hard to guess. You are all asleep, aren’t you?”

“Animagus?” Jongin asks Baekhyun. 

“A witch or wizard who can transform into an animal at will” Baekhyun answers looking at Jongin with a confused look “Dude we learned about it in third year? McGonagall turned into a cat? Remember?”

“I think I was sick that day” Jongin laughs “That’s why people call her a cat sometimes...”

“Yeah” Baekhyun laughs. 

“So, naturally they checked the registry and found there were a few leopard animagi. It was just a matter of narrowing it down” The professor continues. 

“Registry?” Jongin asks. 

“Man, you really don’t know anything?” Baekhyun jokes “All animagi are required by law to register. They tell the ministry what they are and what their distinguishing feature is. Before you ask, it’s a physical trait they have from their human form. McGonagall has glasses markings on her cat form.”

“Jongin, Baekhyun” Professor Binns sighs “Must I separate you?”

“I was just telling Jonginnie about animagi, seems he’s forgotten.” Baekhyun answers seriously, hoping to avoid separation. 

“Right then, if he’s caught up, may I continue?” Professor Binns asks rhetorically before resuming his lesson. 

Jongin doesn’t pay attention to the rest of the class. Instead, he starts thinking about Squishy. While Jongin crossed out the possibility of a magical otter, he didn’t know about animagi. Considering the fact Squishy really seems to understand English, he must be a witch or wizard. Hopefully, Jongin hasn’t been misgendering the poor otter- or person rather. Jongin briefly starts to panic as he remembers everything he’s told the otter. Jongin trusts Squishy though, doesn’t he? They’ve been friends for a while and Jongin hasn’t noticed that anyone is spreading rumours about Jongin’s personal life or feelings. Whoever Squishy is, Jongin will find out. 

~=+•+=~

When Jongin meets Squishy on Saturday for more playing in the pool, he doesn’t mention that he knows Squishy is an animagus. Instead, he just spends time with his friend, a little more weary of undressing with Squishy in the room. Apart from that everything is normal. He figures he’ll talk to Squishy once he has all the details. 

Instead, before his study date with Kyungsoo on Sunday, Jongin goes to the library early to do some research into animagi. He checks with the animagus registry but it seems like there are only 7 animagi registered, none of which are otters. It’s strange. Jongin also takes out a book on animagi and looks through that. Jongin learns a lot about animagi, how they’re created, how they work, more about the distinguishing feature Baekhyun was talking about, and also how the ministry suspects many animagi are running around unregistered. So Squishy could still easily be an animagus. 

“What are you reading?” Kyungsoo smiles sitting down across from Jongin “Animagus?”

“Yeah, it was mentioned in class and I totally blanked so I thought I should study them a bit” Jongin smiles while finishing up his reading “it’s interesting, the potion is quite hard to craft.”

“Yeah lightning storm and- stuff I don't know” Kyungsoo forces out. 

“Are you ok?” Jongin asks, finally looking up and oh God. Jongin’s never seen Kyungsoo upset, is this his fault? Was Kyungsoo’s dad killed by an animagus or something? Wait no he doesn’t have a dad. 

“Fine” Kyungsoo says quickly switching to a smile “We’re studying the potion, right? I found a good book with some extra info we might need.”

“Y-yeah” Jongin stutters out before taking a deep breath. He can handle this, it’s only Kyungsoo, they’re... friends “Sounds good.”

They study the text together taking some notes. Seems like there are some helpful tricks to crafting correctly. It’s hard to read because the book is rather old and the English is confusing but they manage it. 

“So we’ll make sure to use the freshest salamander blood then. Brighter the better” Kyungsoo notes on his notepad before pushing his glasses up and pursing his lips while he writes.

It’s adorable and captivating, Jongin can’t look away. Kyungsoo sighs a bit and Jongin just loses his mind, his cheeks! They’re so squishy! 

“Squishy” Jongin whispers out loud by accident. 

Kyungsoo’s head whips to Jongin, Jongin instantly looks away not wanting his crush realizing he was staring at him like a weirdo. 

“W-what?” Kyungsoo asks, a little shaky. 

“Nothing, nothing” Jongin dismisses “Your cheeks are just- never mind.”

“My cheeks are squishy?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“I don’t mean it as an insult” Jongin says looking at the book “I just noticed I guess.”

“Ok uh” Kyungsoo swallows “I think that’s all we need from this so I'll just go back to my room.”

“Oh” Jongin says looking up at Kyungsoo. He offended him, great “bye.”

~=+•+=~

With all the information Jongin has now, he can talk to Squishy about being an animagus. He’s not entirely sure how he’ll approach the subject. Squishy is technically breaking the law. As much as Jongin wants to believe Squishy is just a sweet innocent little otter, he’s a person too and maybe he’s not a good person. Why would he hide his identity if he were just as kind and sweet as the otter Jongin has come to know and love? Would Squishy hurt Jongin if he told him? No- he would never do that. Jongin brings his wand with him just in case though. 

After the regular night greeting and pets, Jongin decides to talk to him. 

“Squishy” Jongin starts “I need to talk to you about something serious.”

Squishy stops playing around and looks up at Jongin, clearly not trying to hide his understanding of the English language anymore. 

“I know you’re an unregistered animagus” Jongin says seriously “and I’m ok with it but why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you come to me as a human? You know I wouldn’t tell anyone about you. Aren’t we friends?”

The otter fidgets a bit in Jongin’s lap before hopping off. Clearly, the reveal has put some distance between the two of them. 

“Can you just transform back into a human so we can talk?” Jongin asks. 

Squishy shakes his head to signify “no”. 

“Why not?” Jongin frowns “I trust you with everything but I can’t even know who you are? Are you even a boy?”

Squishy nods his head yes. 

“Do you at least like the name Squishy?” Jongin asks. 

Squishy pauses briefly before shaking his head yes. 

“Well that’s good I guess.” Jongin sighs “I just- I don’t know I share so much with you. I’m just a little hurt you won’t share with me.” 

Squishy puts his little hand on Jongin’s seemingly to comfort him. 

“I know you don’t want to transform into a human but can I at least ask you some questions?” Squishy hesitates but nods slowly “if you don’t like the question you can just squeak and I’ll know to ask another one.” 

Squishy nods enthusiastically at that line. 

“Great” Jongin smiles “Do you know my name?” 

Squishy nods. 

“Are we in the same grade?” Jongin asks but is answered with a squeak “ok, fine. Can you at least tell me if you’re a student?”

Squishy nods again. 

“Can I guess your house?” Jongin smiles. 

Squishy does something that Jongin can only imagine is meant to be a laugh before he nods. 

“Hmmm, Gryffindor! The Gryffindors I know are playful like you” Jongin says to the otter but Squishy just shakes his head no “no? What about my house? Hufflepuff?” 

Another shake. 

“Ravenclaw then” Jongin says more sure of himself. Squishy nods yes “perfect, I’m so good at this.” 

Squishy rolls his eyes, something up until now Jongin didn’t know otters could even do. 

“What! At least I knew you weren’t a Slytherin!” Jongin defends “I don’t know why you don’t want to show me who you are. I think we’d be really great friends!”

Squishy squeaks at Jongin.

“What! That wasn’t even a question!” Jongin laughs “I want to keep asking you questions but I also miss petting you so, if you’re ok with it, please let me pet you.” 

Squishy walks back onto Jongin and presses his head into Jongin’s hand affectionately. While Jongin is a little disappointed Squishy won’t reveal himself, he’s just glad he can get some answers from Squishy and get to know him better. 

~=+•+=~

“Minseok are you busy?” Jongin asks as they leave dinner. 

“No, why?” Minseok asks. 

“I need to talk about Squishy” Jongin says seriously. 

“Who- oh! The otter” Minseok answers. 

“Shh, not so loud” Jongin says before pulling Minseok aside into a more hidden area of the castle “I know he’s an animagus.” 

“Yeah, that makes sense” Minseok nods. 

“I told him I knew but he won’t show me who he is” Jongin sighs. 

“That’s kind of suspicious” Minseok frowns. 

“Yeah I know but he must have a reason. Knowing him, he’s probably just shy” Jongin admits. 

“That’s sort of the thing though, isn’t it? You don’t know him. Maybe he’s that dude who threw pudding on muggle-borns, you don’t know.” Minseok says. 

“No! Squishy would never! He’s good” Jongin pouts. 

“If you want to know that for sure you should figure out who he is” Minseok starts “to do that, you’ll need to use his distinguishing feature.” 

“He just looks like an otter though” Jongin shrugs. He's kinda small. I thought that was just the species but maybe that’s the feature, I’m looking for a small person like you. You’re not Squishy, right?”

“I’m going to try not to take that personally” Minseok says before lightly hitting Jongin on the arm “and no, size wouldn’t be the distinguishing feature.” 

“I know” Jongin sighs “but I don’t know what it would be! He’s just an otter. Brown hair, little hands, and- wait! He has eyebrows!” 

“Eyebrows? Yeah ok, that sounds about right” Minseok nods “what kind of eyebrows?” 

“Thick” Jongin answers. 

“Hmmm maybe Junmyeon? He’s got thick eyebrows” Minseok points out. 

“Yeah could be” Jongin nods. Junmyeon is one of the Ravenclaw prefects so it adds up “I don’t really want to go around accusing people though. I told Squishy I wouldn’t tell people he’s an animagus- well except you but I trust you.” 

“I don’t know Jongin, I guess just make a list of suspects and figure it out with your detective skills” Minseok shrugs “I can try to look for people too.” 

“He’s a Ravenclaw if that narrows it down” Jongin adds. 

“Hmm ok yeah. I’ll try to help” Minseok nods “should be easy enough to look through the dormitory for someone who fits the description.” 

“Great” Jongin smiles before taking a step away. 

“Wait” Minseok stops him “Kyungsoo is a Ravenclaw”

“Yeah” Jongin nods slowly.

“With thick eyebrows” Minseok says slowly for effect. 

“But he- oh my god I told Squishy about my crush!” Jongin says, panicking “you really think it’s Kyungsoo?” 

“Did you use his name when you talked about your crush?” Minseok asks. 

“Uh no, no I didn’t” Jongin says thinking back to it. 

“So don’t freak out then. If it is Kyungsoo, this changes nothing” Minseok says calmingly. 

“I’ve been cuddling with him and kissing his forehead and he’s seen me shirtless-“ Jongin says freaking out. 

“Oh, boy” Minseok sighs “Nini, just go talk to him. Maybe not about him being an otter cause we’re still not sure but just look at his face, his reactions and think about Squishy when you do.” 

“Yeah- yeah I can do that” Jongin nods. 

“Great, I’ll bring you into our dormitory” Minseok says as he starts walking. 

The closer they get the more nervous Jongin is. He’s already nervous around Kyungsoo, it doesn’t help to think that Kyungsoo might be the person Jongin has told every single stupid thought he’s had. Man, this was easier when he thought Squishy was just an otter, not his crush he wants to look good for. 

“Kyungsoo!” Minseok yells “Jongin wants to talk to you, _privately_.” 

The room erupts in a bunch of “oooo”s and some teasing catcalls. 

“Not like that, guys stop being stupid” Minseok sighs before leaving Jongin alone in the Ravenclaw common room. 

“You want to talk?” Kyungsoo asks, looking almost as nervous as Jongin. 

“Yeah, maybe in your room. If that’s ok?” Jongin asks. 

“It’s a little messy... but sure” Kyungsoo nods. 

Kyungsoo leads Jongin to his room, luckily all his roommates are busy or something because they aren’t there. 

Once they’re in and the door is closed Kyungsoo looks at Jongin. As hard as it is for Jongin to do without freaking out, Jongin looks at Kyungsoo’s face. His lips, his cheeks, his round eyes, his soft brown hair, the way his resting face looks, and especially, his eyebrows. Jongin can definitely see Kyungsoo as Squishy. They’re more than a little similar. 

“You’re Squishy” Jongin says finally. 

“What? My cheeks? Yeah, they’re kinda squishy” Kyungsoo says, putting on a small smile. 

“No, you’re Squishy, the otter” Jongin says, looking for Kyungsoo’s reaction. No matter how hard Kyungsoo is trying to hide it, Jongin can see the recognition in his eye. 

“Otter?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jongin frowns “last night, I asked you to change and you didn’t? Why? I thought we were... close. As an otter and wizards..” 

“A person can’t be an otter” Kyungsoo laughs. 

“Stop lying to me” Jongin says sadly “d-do I not matter to you? Is that why you won’t admit it?” 

“What? Jongin, no you matter a lot to me” Kyungsoo says as his entire body language changes significantly. 

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Jongin asks, feeling hurt. 

“I-I, I was scared” Kyungsoo finally admits “I just didn’t want to ruin what we had, as people or with me as an otter.” 

“But I just wanted to know” Jongin pouts “I didn’t want to change anything, I just wanted to know who you were.” 

“But it will change won’t it? Now that you know I’m Squishy, you won’t tell me about your day or how cute I am or how you were worried about me when I was asleep” Kyungsoo says quietly “I know you won’t because you didn’t. You only say those things to me when I’m an otter. Now that you know, you’ll stop.” 

“Now that I know, I’ll tell you directly in person” Jongin counters “I tend to... get attached to people? I didn’t want to scare you off so I didn’t talk about it but now that I know you like hearing it, I can.” 

“You’ll tell me all the same things?” Kyungsoo asks “even about your crush?”

“Oh um” Jongin fidgets “I-I can’t, you how hard it is for me.”

“See! This is why I didn’t want to tell you” Kyungsoo frowns “I liked being Squishy. Now I’m just Kyungsoo.” 

“That’s not a bad thing, being you is a really good thing” Jongin pouts “and the reason I can’t tell you about my crush is- uh. Remember how I said I had no intention of confessing?” 

“Yeah...” Kyungsoo says not seeing the connection. 

“Well if I told you-“ Jongin says trying to get a hold of his emotions. He’s not doing a great job, the fear and pain that he’s feeling must be all over his face “t-then you would know.”

“Yeah cause that’s how-“ Kyungsoo pauses “oh! Oh! Oh my god!”

Kyungsoo runs forward and crashes into Jongin before hugging him. 

“I like you too” Kyungsoo mumbles into the hug. 

“Really?” Jongin asks returning the hug. 

“Yeah, probably longer than you have” Kyungsoo laughs. 

“So you’re not rejecting me?” Jongin asks with a huge smile. 

“No one in their right mind would reject you so no, I’m not Jongin” Kyungsoo smiles. 

“We’re dating?” Jongin asks hopefully. 

“Yeah” Kyungsoo laughs. 

“Why are you laughing?” Jongin pouts. 

“I’m having a flashback to my dream when I was knocked out by the potion” Kyungsoo answers honestly. 

“I was in it?” Jongin asks with bright eyes. 

“Yup” Kyungsoo nods happily before he looks down at Jongin’s lips making it very clear what happened in the dream. 

“How did it end?” Jongin asks with a smirk. 

“I think you know” Kyungsoo smiles before closing the distance. 

The end. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like Jongin or Kyungsoo's version better? I still can't pick. KInda want more of this so once I'm done with my other fic I might make a sequel

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I'll get better at kiss scenes when quarantine ends lol


End file.
